In San Jose, the St Louis Blues scored three goals straight goals after falling behind in the first period on Thursday, and defeated the Sharks, 3-1.
St Louis improved to 47-20-11, and 12-0-2 in their last 14 games. They are tied with the Minnesota Wild for second in the Central Division, the two teams clash on Saturday.
Robert Thomas scored the go ahead goal in the middle frame with less than a minute gone in the stanza.
“He was really good,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “He did some really good things offensively and defensively. He was shooting the puck. He probably had the best quality chances of anybody on our team. He’s just playing really good hockey. He’s working, competing, doing a lot of good things.”
Jordan Binnington made 20 saves in the Blues win.
“Our guys have played really well,” Berube said. “I think they’re dialed in, winning games in different types of ways. It was a tighter one tonight, but we came through and closed it out at the end.”
Noah Gregor had the lone goal for San Jose, his strike gave them a 1-0 lead in the first period.
“Good play from [Rudolfs Balcers] to flip it to me and get it to me,” Gregor said. “I was able to grab some speed through the neutral zone and get a decent shot off. I wasn’t trying to go five-hole but it worked out nice. It was good to see that one go in.”
San Jose dropped to 30-35-12.
“It was a challenge for us to try to match them,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “There were times I thought we did a decent job. You’re not going to win many games scoring one goal and you’re not going to win against these guys if the power plays are 5-1 at the end of the night. You certainly aren’t going to win against these guys if your best players aren’t your best players and all three of those things happened.”
Dakota Joshua scored for St Louis in the first period to get them even, 1-1.
“It was kind of nice in a way of just having a close game towards the end,” Binnington said. “The last couple, it’s obviously great the boys have been putting a lot of goals home. But just having that tight finish and everyone competing right till the end … was good to see.”
St Louis’ Pavel Buchnevich hit for an empty-net goal in the third period.
James Reimer made 25 in the San Jose loss.
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