St. Louis powers past San Jose

LIVERMORE, Calif. – The Sharks took their turn as host for game three of their Western Conference Quarter Finals matchup with the Saint Louis Blues.   Unfortunately for San Jose, the experience was not a pleasant one and three power play goals for the Blues added to the Sharks displeasure.    
The Blue’s Patrik Berglund struck for the all-important first goal on the power play at 14:31.   Berglund’s easy tap in backhand was his third goal of the series.   The assists went to Carlo Colaiacovo and Jason Arnott.  
It took the Sharks barely a minute to respond however, as they evened things up with a power play goal of their own at 16:45 from Brent Burns.   Burns broke in on Blue’s goaltender Brian Elliot and roofed a nice backhand over Blues goaltender Brian Elliott’s right side.   Assists on the goal went to Joe Thornton and Logan Couture.
The Blues struck just over one minute in to the second, when Andy McDonald’s wrister beat Sharks goalie Antti Niemi.   Colaiacovo collected his second assist of the night on the play.
The Sharks failed to respond by tying the score this time around, as Arnott scored another Blues power play goal at 10:06 of the second.   McDonald and Alexander Steen were credited with the helpers.
In the third, the Blue’s improved their penchant for strong starts to periods as Steen scored just 59 seconds in with a hard slap shot.   Saint Louis also continued their trend of making the Sharks pay for taking penalties as the tally was the Blue’s third power play goal of the night.
The Sharks did make it interesting when Colin White and Logan Couture scored late goals at 16:58 and 19:43 respectively.   In spite of a buzzer beating flurry as the final seconds ticked off, it was too little too late for the home team on this night.
The Blues take the 4-3 win, and lead the series two-to-one and will remain in town to play at the HP Pavilion on Thursday, April 19.
  Contact the Photographer at Jack.Lima@prohockeynews.com