BLUESThe St. Louis Blues will play their third consecutive home game Thursday night and are looking to grab a win at home after back-to-back losses at Enterprise Center.
A third-period rally against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night wasn't quite enough. Trailing 4-2, the Blues roared back with goals from Ivan Barbashev and Vladimir Tarasenko early in the period, but the game was decided with 28 seconds when Edmonton's Kailer Yamamoto scored.
On Tuesday, the Blues fell again, this time to the struggling Arizona Coyotes. Jordan Kyrou and Torey Krug scored for the Blues in a 3-2 loss. This marked the third consecutive loss decided in the third period as the Coyotes took the lead with under seven minutes remaining.
"We have to be better. Every guy in the room knows (that)," said Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly. "It was a chance to win a hockey game and get back on track... We'll be better. There's a lot of hockey left."
Tuesday night saw a lot of roster change for the Blues, as they welcomed back Oskar Sundqvist after missing eight months due to ACL surgery; and Torey Krug, who missed five games in COVID-19 protocols. The team also welcomed defenseman Scott Perunovich, who made his NHL debut vs. Arizona and had 18:26 of total ice time.
The Blues enter the matchup with San Jose with a record of 8-5-2, good for 18 points and fourth place in the Central Division as of Wednesday afternoon.
SHARKSThe San Jose Sharks are coming off a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. Tomas Hertl scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season to seal the victory in the third period.
Goaltender James Reimer made 26 saves for the Sharks, who had previously dropped two in a row and four of their last five.
"That was one of our better road games of the year," San Jose Head Coach Bob Boughner commented after the game. "We talked about getting back to what makes us successful, our identity and grinding out wins. It was a complete team win."
Thursday night will mark the end of a five game road trip in which the Sharks are 2-2-0. The other win came against Calgary, with the losses taking place in Winnipeg and Colorado.
The Sharks now sit at 8-6-1, worth 17 points and sixth place in the Pacific Division as of Wednesday afternoon.
HEAD-TO-HEADThe Blues won the only matchup between the two this season, a 5-3 game at SAP Center in San Jose on Nov. 4. Brandon Saad scored two goals and Joel Hofer won his first career game between the pipes.
Early penalties kicked things off for the Blues at San Jose, with overlapping penalty time from Pavel Buchnevich, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev in the first half of the first period. This led to a 2-1 deficit after the first, which the Blues ultimately overcame with a three-goal second and an empty-netter in the third to seal the win.
Last season, the Blues were 5-1-2 against the Sharks and have now won three in a row against them, last losing on March 8 in overtime.
