Pietrangelo breaks tie in third period, Blues defeat Sharks

SAN JOSE -- Alex Pietrangelo scored twice in the third period, including the tiebreaking goal, and the St. Louis Blues won 5-2 against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists for the Blues (23-8-6), who have won five in a row following a three-game losing streak. Jake Allen made 34 saves.
"They definitely know how to win," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "It's character and leadership, that's a big part of it, for sure."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Sharks highlights]
Pietrangelo gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 11:07 with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle on the rush off a pass from Schwartz.
"I don't think we played the first 40 minutes the way we wanted to," Pietrangelo said. "We ended maybe the last couple of shifts in the second and we felt like we were building momentum."
Brent Burns had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (16-19-2), who are 1-7-1 in their past nine games and have lost three of four since Bob Boughner replaced Peter DeBoer as coach Dec. 11.
"That composure you need for 60 minutes to beat a special team like the St. Louis Blues, I thought we lacked a little of that in the third period," Boughner said.

Martin Jones made 23 saves on 26 shots for San Jose.
"We've got to find a way to raise our game in the third period in tight games, myself included," Jones said. "We've just got to find another level, that's all."
Burns scored his first goal since Nov. 14 on the power play 42 seconds into the second period to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. It was San Jose's first power-play goal in 15 tries over six games.
St. Louis struck back with two goals in 3:26.
Jordan Kyrou tied the game 1-1 at 2:04, and Schwartz scored on the power play at 5:30 for a 2-1 lead.
"We got better as the game went on," Allen said. "I don't think we started great. They're a good team in this building in the first period, they always have been."

Stefan Noesen tied it 2-2 at 15:36 when he scored in his first game with the Sharks, who claimed the forward off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
Ryan O'Reilly scored into an empty net with 1:08 left to give the Blues at 4-2 lead.
Pietrangelo scored his second of the night into an empty net with eight seconds remaining for the 5-2 final.
"We found a way," Allen said. "We took a big deep breath after the second and we regrouped in here. (Tied) 2-2 on the road, we knew we were in a good spot. We knew we hadn't come even close to playing our game, so as the third went on, we played better."

They said it

"It's never easy coming over to the West Coast the day before. Sometimes, you don't have your legs and didn't think we did today, but we just found a way." -- Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo
"We're looking at having to win a big game against a team sitting in town waiting for us, so we have to figure that out and come out with some energy. As bad as we feel right now, we don't have a lot of time to dwell on it." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner on the need to move past the loss with a game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday

Need to know

Berube set the Blues record with his 61st win in his first 100 games as their coach (61-27-12). Ken Hitchcock won 60. ... St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn had two assists. He got his 400th NHL point on the first, when he set up Schwartz's power-play goal. ... Sharks forward Joel Kellman was plus-1 in 9:25 in his NHL debut. ... O'Reilly has one goal and five assists during a five-game point streak. ... Sharks forward Tomas Hertl had an assist on Burns' goal to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, two assists).

What's next

Blues: At the Los Angeles Kings on Monday (10 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Sharks: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, SN360, NBCSCA, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)