The Sharks had a great first period, but defensive woes and a four-goal second period for the Blues were the difference-makers as they lose to St. Louis 6-3.
The Sharks have built a 2-0 lead early in the first period on goals from Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture. Assists on the first goal by Barabanov went to Andreas Johnsson and Mario Ferraro, while the assists on the second goal by Couture went to Barabanov and Erik Karlsson.
The Blues then evened things up in the second period on goals from Colton Parayko and Jordan Kyrou. It unraveled further as the Blues grabbed their first lead of the night via Logan Brown for St. Louis’ third unanswered goal. In the final minute of the middle frame, the Blues added a commanding fourth consecutive goal, this time from Brayden Schenn, to extend their lead to two. The Sharks defense has completely crumbled in the second period, doing a ton of standing around and puck-watching.
The Sharks got back in it in the third on a pretty shorthanded play that had Matt Benning set up Steven Lorentz to score the Sharks’ third shorthanded goal of the year to get within one. However, it wasn’t that way for long, as the Blues followed that up with two more to pad their lead: one from Tyler Pitlick and an empty-netter from Kaepernick Kapanen to finish things off.
James Reimer made 17 saves and was left out to dry in many occasions in what could be his last start in teal ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline. In addition, on a more positive note, this marks Erik Karlsson’s 900th NHL game, which is another significant feat in an absolutely remarkable season for EK65.
In other news, the Sharks signed Derrick Pouliot to a one-year NHL contract for the remainder of this season. Pouliot has 18 points in 26 games with the Barracuda this season when he was available and is expected to get called up to the Sharks soon after the trade deadline has come and gone and a roster spot has cleared for him.
Besides the first period, this game was pretty much a complete disaster for the Sharks. After the Blues scored four unanswered in the second period, knowing this Sharks team, there was practically no way they would climb themselves out of this hole completely. Team Teal concludes its current homestand on Saturday afternoon against the Washington Capitals at 3 pm PT.
On the other hand, since the trade deadline is tomorrow afternoon, I anticipate that the Sharks will make a few more trades before tomorrow afternoon, so expect a trade deadline day recap sometime tomorrow before the Sharks play their next game on Saturday.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App, Corey Masisak via Twitter
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