St. Louis Blues rally through San Jose beat Sharks 4-2 -NHL Match Update
St. Louis added another valuable two points to their total to move up in the Eastern Conference ranks after rallying through San Jose and defeating the rowdy Sharks, 4-2, Saturday night at the sold-out HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, United States.
Facing a disappointing loss against Dallas Stars in their previous 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season matchup after making a near comeback in the final period, St. Louis Blues head coach, Davis Payne, thinks that they have learned from
their mistakes.
"Credit the guys for getting back on track", Blues coach, Davis Payne, said. "San Jose got us way back on our heels in the second period. Fortunately, our goalie made some big saves".
Matt D'Agostini scored his second of the season and the first of the matchup early in the initial period unassisted on a breakaway to put St. Louis up by one. Michal Handzus did not keep San Jose behind and scored his second of the season also during a late
power play opportunity to equalise the contest.
Newly acquired player over the offseason, Brent Burns, made the tie-breaker a little over midway through the second for his first on an assist by Ryane Clowe. San Jose managed to kill off their only penalty of the period as Michal Handzus was booked for
delaying the game with a minor.
It was all St. Louis in the final period of regulation as Kent Huskins scored on a breakaway unassisted, while Alexander Steen and David Backes, added one of their own to finalise the matchup nearly 10 minutes apart.
Chris Stewart was penalised after Steen’s goal giving San Jose a valuable added man advantage but the Blues goalie, Brian Elliot, cemented himself in the net and saved 34 of 36 shot attempts.
"We expected to give up a few more shots in this building and against that team", Elliott said. "We were ready for that and the guys did a good job".
According to Sharks head coach, Todd McLellan, his team did not play as bad as the score regarded them to have, but St. Louis was determined to get the win.
"We didn't make a lot of mistakes", McLellan said. "But we made enough for them to score".
San Jose Sharks look to snap their two-game losing streak against Anaheim Ducks on Monday while St. Louis Blues will face them one day earlier on Sunday.
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