ST. LOUIS — For one night at least, the agony is over for the Blues. Yep, they finally won a game — it’s true — defeating the San Jose Sharks by a score of 5-3 Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 18,906 at Enterprise Center.
It had been eight in a row on the wrong side of the scoreboard for St. Louis, a franchise record set Tuesday in Philadelphia. But no more. This was a back-and-forth affair — with the Blues leading 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, and 4-3. But they just couldn’t get any more space between themselves and the Sharks, who they have now beaten six games in a row.
Until, that is, Noel Acciari scored an empty-net goal with 18.2 seconds left. So the Blues are now 4-8-0 for the season. San Jose has lost five in a row — three of which were decided in overtime — falling to 3-9-3.
Defenseman Calle Rosen, playing only because Robert Bortuzzo was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day because of an upper-body injury, scored the game-winner from distance 8:20 into the third period. It was only the fourth goal for Rosen in 42 NHL games.
Living on the fringe of the roster in St. Louis, Rosen began the season living in an extended stay hotel with the family, but has since upgraded to an Airbnb. He probably slept well Thursday night.
First things first
First periods have not been the problem this year for the Blues. Entering Thursday’s contest, they had actually outscored the opposition 8-6, and their six goals allowed trailed only Dallas (four) for fewest allowed in the opening period this season in the NHL.
So it was a promising start to Military Night, when Torey Krug caught San Jose goalie Kaapo Kahkonen a little slow to hug the near post early in the period. Stationed down low, Krug sent a shot from the front of the right circle past Kahkonen, giving the Blues a 1-0 lead just 2:30 into the contest.
It was Krug’s second goal of the season and 80th of his NHL career.
As has beYen the case in some recent games, the Blues had some good moments offensively and chances to add to their lead. Opportunity knocked at the 7:02 mark of the period when San Jose’s Mario Ferraro was sent off for slashing Tyler Pitlick, one of four lineup changes by coach Craig Berube.
San Jose has the league’s second best penalty kill unit (92.3 percent), but the Blues had good puck movement and possession time on this power play. But they passed up on shots and couldn’t convert, so the score remained 1-0.
Dating back to the Los Angeles Kings game on Halloween night, that put the Blues at 1-for-13 on the power play over four-plus games.
The Blues couldn’t hold their lead throughout the period. With 3:41 left, Timo Meier tied the game with a shot that bounced off Jordan Binnington towards the net and was inadvertently knocked in Justin Faulk’s hand.
That’s the way it’s been going for the Blues this year – bad bounces galore. But it was sloppy play in the seconds before the deflection that set up the goal, with an awkward Faulk pass intended for Parayko missing the mark and allowing San Jose to maintain possession.
Taking the second
The second period usually is when the Blues fall through the trap door, and the game collapses on them. Entering Thursday’s contest, they had allowed 21 second-period goals, tied for second-worst in the league. And had a minus-14 goal differential, tied for the worst in the league (with Anaheim).
But it didn’t happen on this night. The Blues actually outscored the Sharks 2-1 in the period on goals by Jordan Kyrou and Saad. In between those scores was a San Jose rebound goal by Tomas Hertl.
But it was a 3-2 Blues lead after two, the first time the Blues have led entering the third period since their 2-0 win in Edmonton on Oct. 22, which was their last win entering Thursday’s contest. It also marked the first time all season the Blues have led at home entering period No. 3.
Kyrou’s goal came backdoor after a crisp cross-ice pass from Pavel Buchnevich at the 6:59 mark of the second. It came on the power play, after Kyrou had drawn a holding penalty on Jaycob Megna on a breakaway.
Saad’s goal also came net front after a Josh Leivo pass from behind the net. Leivo was in the Blues’ lineup for the first time since Oct. 27, having just been recalled from Springfield (along with rookie Nikita Alexandrov) who made his NHL debut.
Berube had said after the morning skate that one of the reasons he put Leivo on a line with Ryan O’Reilly and Saad was Leivo’s ability to work down low and along the boards – and the Saad goal was a perfect example of just that.
That second-period lead didn’t last long, because Logan Couture tied it at 3-3 just 1:26 into the third.
