Sharks 6, Blues 2
ST. LOUIS -- The San Jose Sharks had little to complain about in the early stages of this NHL season, being one of three undefeated teams and scoring a league-high 24 goals in their first five games heading into Tuesday night.
About the only thing that has not been clicking for the Sharks has been their power play, and they decided to do something about that Tuesday night.
Playing the undefeated St. Louis Blues, the Sharks improved their record to 6-0 with a 6-2 victory that included power play goals from Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Tommy Wingels and Patrick Marleau.
In their first five games, the Sharks had scored only five power play goals in 23 opportunities, a success rate of 21.7 percent.
The Sharks might have been fired up by a hit by the Blues' Maxim Lapierre on veteran defenseman Dan Boyle just 5:22 into the game. Lapierre checked Boyle into the boards from behind and Boyle had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation, and initial reports were that he was alert and moving all of his extremities.
Lapierre was given a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind, as well as a five-minute penalty for fighting and a game misconduct.
Couture's resulting power-play goal, at 9:37, marked the first time this season the Blues have been behind in a game. Pavelski extended the lead to 2-0 just 48 seconds later when his shot beat goalie Jaroslav Halak. The San Jose defense held the Blues to only one shot on goal for the first 14 minutes of the game as they built the 2-0 lead.
A second period power-play goal from Wingels made the lead 3-0, and Scott Hannan added an even-strength goal later in the period. The Blues pulled Halak after the second period and inserted Brian Elliott for the first time this season.
Joe Thornton, who had assisted on two of the first four San Jose goals, scored his first goal of the season 5:06 into the third period as the Sharks continued to pound the Blues.
Antti Nieme stopped 22 St. Louis shots before he lost his bid for his first shutout of the season 7:23 into the third period on a goal by Vladimir Tarasenko, his fourth in as many games. Roman Polak's goal at 12:28 cut the San Jose lead to 5-2 before Marleau scored his fifth goal of the year, and the Sharks fourth power-play goal of the game, at 17:06.
NOTES: The Sharks placed RW Adam Burish on injured reserve Tuesday with a lower body injury and recalled LW Bracken Kearns from Worchester in the American Hockey League, but he did not dress for the game. ... D Brad Stuart of the Sharks served the final game of his three-game suspension for a hit on LW Rick Nash of the New York Rangers on Oct. 8. ... The Blues have used the exact same lineup for all five games this season, but coach Ken Hitchcock said backup G Brian Elliott will play either Thursday night at Chicago or Friday night at Winnipeg. ... The Blues have a week off following the game in Winnipeg and will spend it with a "team building" week in Charleston, S.C.
