The Sharks drop their fifth straight game as the St. Louis Blues were the more desperate team and won 5-3 to end their franchise-record eight-game skid.
Team Teal is so close, yet they can’t seem to get over the hump. This one all came down to the Sharks’ lack of scoring depth and woes in the defensive zone. Although this was a terrible loss, there were some positive aspects to take from this game, which I will get to later in this post. The Blues opened the scoring two and a half minutes into beginning frame via Torey Krug. The Sharks got the equalizer late in the first, which was last touched by Timo Meier for his sixth goal of the season and fourth consecutive game with a goal. Erik Karlsson made the initial shot that Timo Meier made contact with for the 1-1 tie and his 20th point in 15 games this season, one shy of a Sharks franchise record set by Patrick Marleau during the 2009-10 season. Kevin Labanc was credited with the other assist on the Sharks' first goal of the game.
The Blues took the lead relatively early in the second period on the power play via Jordan Kyrou. Team Teal answered back about six minutes later on Tomas Hertl's third goal of the year, with Kevin Labanc recording his second assist of the game and Mario Ferraro picking up the other assist on the Sharks' second goal of the game. With about two minutes remaining in the second period, the Blues went back ahead 3-2 on a goal by Brandon Saad.
Early in the final frame, Logan Couture tipped one in from Erik Karlsson for his fifth goal of the season to tie it at three. This would also be EK65's second assist of the night. However, when the Sharks had a chance to get things done and win against a struggling Blues team, they couldn't, as Calle Rosen scores the game-winner for the Blues later in the third and Noel Acciari adds the extra insurance with an empty-netter with seconds remaining in the game.
Kaapo Kahkonen received the nod in net but couldn't get bailed out by the rest of the team, recording 28 saves on 32 shots against. In addition, this marked Jaycob Megna's 100th NHL game and Tomas Hertl’s 600th NHL game.
The Sharks' first midwest road trip of the season is off to a slow and awful start. I had a gut feeling that the Blues would do everything they can to end their 8-game losing streak against this Sharks team and be successful in doing so because that's how this season is going for Team Teal. They have to forget this one and improve quickly, as the Sharks play their next game tonight in Dallas against the Stars in the second game of a back-to-back set at 5:30 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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