The Sharks blew their lead in the third period and ultimately fell to the Blues 2-1 in the shootout to lose their third straight game.
The first period was fairly quiet, although the Sharks took a few reckless too many men penalties. Oskar Sundqvist collided awkwardly with his teammate Kyle Clifford in front of the Sharks' net and headed straight to the dressing room with an apparent knee injury.
Scoring didn't come until the second period when Ryan Donato scores to put the Sharks on the board first, with Marcus Sorensen and Tomas Hertl getting the assists. San Jose lost its lead in the third when Tyler Bozak ties the game for the Blues while shorthanded. Kyle Clifford had shot the puck at the net and it deflected off Bozak's shin pad for the game-tying goal that forced overtime and a shootout. In addition, the Sharks' all-around play got sloppy towards the end of this one.
In the shootout, Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko both made their attempts to earn the Blues the extra point in this contest and end their recent skid. On the other hand Logan Couture had a successful attempt in the shootout, while both Ryan Donato and Kevin Labanc's attempts were unsuccessful.
Martin Jones was solid in his start last night, making 33 saves. In addition, this marks Matt Nieto's 500th NHL game, becoming the third California-born player in NHL history to skate in at least 500 games.
The Sharks have officially hit the halfway point in their 2021 campaign with their record standing at 11-13-4. Despite their current skid, I agree with Bob Boughner that the Sharks have become a more difficult team to play against right now. I also want to see the Sharks shoot the puck more than pass it around. They resume their current and final miniseries against St. Louis tonight at 6 pm PT. Hopefully the Sharks can step up from their past few games and turn their fortunes around for the better.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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