Sharks claim first in Pacific

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The San Jose Sharks were seven points out of first place in the Pacific Division just about two and half weeks ago.

Oh how times have changed.

Kevin Labanc had the OT winner for San Jose – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

On Saturday night, the Sharks defeated the visiting St Louis Blues, 3-2, in extra time to take over fist place from the Calgary Flames.

“It feels good,” the Sharks’ Logan Couture said. “It means that we’ve come a long way. Not too long ago, it was December there, we were going through some tough times as a team and we weren’t anywhere near the top of the conference. It means that we’ve found our game and we’ve played up to our capabilities.”

Kevin Labanc struck for the game-winner at 3:21 of the OT.

“We’re only one point (ahead), we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but it’s definitely nice knowing that you’re on top of the conference,” Labanc said.

Martin Jones made 17 saves in the win.

San Jose improved to 41-19-8.

Timo Meier had two strikes in regulation for San Jose.

“He keeps adding layers to his game,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said of Meier. “A couple big moments for us tonight. I thought he had good legs. He was one of the guys I thought was really going. I actually double-shifted him a few times to keep him going because I think he felt good.”

Pat Maroon and Brayden Schenn scored for St Louis who hold down third place in the Central Division; St Louis was 2-0-1 on their California trip.

“L.A. and Anaheim aren’t where they want to be in the standings but they’re still tough teams to play against,” Schenn said. “And then it’s never easy to come into this building. So five out of six points, we’ll take it. Anything can happen in overtime, we played hard today, we battled hard to get one point.”

The Blues dropped to 36-25-7.

[WATCH: All Blues vs. Sharks highlights]

Jake Allen  made 30 saves in the loss.

“He was excellent,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said of Allen. “We got a little loose there at the end of the third, and he stopped a couple of big scoring opportunities to get us a point.”