ST. LOUIS — The Blues might not have pictured Jakub Vrana scoring like he did during Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Sharks, but they’ll sure take it.
Vrana squeezed a shot from below the goal line between Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen and the post, and banked it off San Jose’s Erik Karlsson to boost the Blues to a one-goal lead less than three minutes into the third period.
The goal was Vrana’s first as a Blue since he was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline for a 2025 seventh-round pick and minor leaguer Dylan McLaughlin. The Red Wings also retained half of Vrana’s salary for this season and next.
Vrana made his St. Louis debut on Tuesday in Arizona, and was introduced to the Enterprise Center crowd as part of the starting lineup against the Sharks.
Jordan Binnington made sure Vrana’s go-ahead goal wound up the game-winner as the Sharks were unable to find an equalizer.
It momentarily appeared that the Sharks tied the game at 3 with 10:52 left in the third period, but Tomas Hertl’s deflection past Binnington was played by a stick high above the crossbar. After a review by officials, the call on the ice was confirmed.
Robert Thomas added an insurance goal on the power play with 4:58 left in the third period.
St. Louis hit three posts in the third period as Brayden Schenn, Colton Parayko and Nikita Alexandrov all rang iron.
The Blues win was just their second in the last 10 games, and both wins have come against the Sharks. The last time St. Louis beat a team other than San Jose was Feb. 16 in New Jersey.
St. Louis travels to league-worst Columbus for a Saturday date with the Blue Jackets.
Another close call
The Blues received a little bit of luck when Evgeny Svechnikov’s first-period shot barely stayed out of the goal, an on-ice no goal ruling that was confirmed after a video review by officials. Svechnikov’s attempted stuff at the post flipped on end, but did not fully cross the goal line before it was swept away by Binnington’s glove hand.
The play occurred at 4:29 of the first period, and the Sharks eventually broke through about six minutes later when Erik Karlsson scored after a Robert Thomas turnover in his own end. Thomas blindly flipped a pass from below the icing line, which was picked off by Alexander Barabanov and shuffled across the ice to Karlsson.
It was Karlsson’s 20th goal of the season, and he entered Thursday’s game with 82 points, which was the most by a defenseman in the NHL this year.
Thomas redeemed himself when he helped the Blues tie the game with 7:29 left in the first period. After forcing a turnover coming out of the St. Louis zone, Thomas led the rush and patiently waited to hit Torey Krug as the trailer in transition.
Krug’s goal was his first since Dec. 1, snapping a 23-game goal drought that also included a lengthy absence due to a lower-body injury.
At the end of the first period, the Sharks must have felt a lot better about their game than they did during their previous outing in Colorado on Tuesday. Against the Avalanche, San Jose mustered 13 total shots on goal and were shut out.
The Sharks outshot the Blues, 15-9, in the first period.
Extra effort
The Blues took a 2-1 lead when Sammy Blais converted on a partial breakaway about midway through the second period, finishing with a nice roofed forehand after Parayko twice poked the puck loose to spring Blais.
Parayko broke up a play at his own blue line, and then dove in the neutral zone to set up Blais with a one on one chance with Kahkonen. Since arriving back in St. Louis as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade, Blais has scored three goals in 13 games. He also signed a one-year contract extension last week worth $1 million.
The Blais goal gave the Blues breathing room. Calle Rosen gave it right back.
Rosen, playing in his first game after being a healthy scratch for six consecutive games, flubbed a puck in his own end, and Barabanov again set up a teammate after a Blues miscue. This time, it was Tomas Hertl who was the beneficiary, ripping a puck past Binnington with 5:29 left in the second period.
Rosen did not play the rest of the period, but returned to the ice in the third period. On Thursday night, Rosen was in the lineup as Tyler Tucker and Robert Bortuzzo sat as healthy scratches. The last game Rosen played was in Carolina on Feb. 21, when he lost coverage on Andrei Svechnikov off a faceoff.
A puzzling penalty
New Blues forward Kasperi Kapanen took an unusual penalty in the second period when he snapped his stick on a one-timer attempt and did not drop the stick when he tried to play the puck. He was given two minutes for playing the puck with a broken stick, a penalty that ended the Blues power play.
It’s not the first time in Kapanen’s career that he’s played with a broken stick.
When he was in Toronto, his stick was broken by a Jeff Petry shot when the Maple Leafs were killing a penalty. Instead of dropping his broken stick, Kapanen threw it at Petry’s feet. Petry scored on the ensuing penalty shot.
