Sharks Vs.Blues Recap: Offense Needed A Bigger Boat

Blues Lineup:

The Blues would roll out a similar lineup to the one that downed the Preds the other night in Nashville. Steen would center Backes and Berglund, Stastny would center Tarasenko and Paajarvi. Lehtera would be with Brouwer and Fabbri. Finally, Brozdiak would be with Upshall and Jaskin. Your D-pairs would see Bouwmeester, Pietrangelo...Edmundson, Shattenkirk, and Parayko would be with Gunnarson. Your starting goaltender would be Elliott.

First Period:

This game was a polar opposite of what happened in Nashville the other night. The pace was much better for both teams in the first. You could say the Blues did everything but score in the first period. Although, just ten seconds into the game Brian Elliott had to make more than a routine save.

Vladimir Tarasenko would get a great chance from Stastny after keeping it in the offensive zone. Martin Jones made a beauty of a save to deny the Blues the early 1-0 lead.

Both goaltenders would be tested early on. Alexander Steen would ring a shot of the post on the powerplay following that Martin Jones save. The Blues and Sharks both would have plenty of powerplay chances, but neither would score on them in the first frame. In fact the Blues and a powerplay opportunity negated when David Backes knocked the stick out of a Sharks players hand. It was a questionable call as said Sharks player was only holding his stick with one hand and he basically just dropped it and Backes got called for it. It didn't bite the Blues though, and it would be 0-0 after one period. Shots in the first were 16-13 in favor of the Sharks.

Second Period:

Four minutes into the second period Joonas Donskoi would make it 1-0 on a wrister beating Elliott. By wrister  it was actually a knuckle puck because there's no way he got everything on it. Alas, it still found the back of the net.

Joe Pavelski gets it between both Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo somehow to get the assist on the play. Both teams would trade powerplay chances again in the second. Elliott denies a chance from Tomas Hertl here:

The Sharks would find the back of the net though. Joe Thornton would score before Lehtera could get into the play. Technically it was a 4 on 4 goal, but really the Blues were playing short.

Two goal leads are the worst in hockey right? Well Jay Bouwmeester thinks so. Towards the end of the second, He would score on a deflection off a Sharks player in front of the net. At first it looked like Tarasenko would get the tip, but it was all Bouwmeester for the goal.

"Fun Bobby" would get his second goal of the year. Alex Pietrangelo(20) and Paul Stastny(19) would notch the assists on the play. The Sharks would take the one goal lead into the third up 2-1. Shots in the second period were 10-6 in favor of the Sharks.

Third Period:

Brian Elliott would do his best to keep the Blues in this one. I mean the only thing he hasn't done to this point is score a goal. (Can he cause this offense right now...) He absolutely robs the Sharks of a three to one lead here on a great chance in front of the net on Dainius Zubrus.

More Brian Elliott. With the Blues still down two to one, Ells would deny Marleau in front of the net once again.

The game would stay two to one for most of the third and then...

Elliott can only do so much. The offense wasn't doing anything. Jones was looking like an all star caliber goaltender. (The Blues seem like they make a lot of goalies look like all stars) The game was in reach until that third Sharks goal from Matt Nieto. That was the nail in the coffin as the Blues would fall to the Sharks 3-1. The shots were 8-6 in favor of the Blues that period. The overall totals were 32-27 in favor of San Jose. It seemed the energy was back at least. Just couldn't do anything with it. Something has to give though. Schwartz coming back is great, but I'm not sure that's going to be enough. Hopefully, the Blues will rebound because they are right back at it Saturday night against the Wild.

Three Stars:

Third Star: Joe Thornton (1 goal. Wonder how he likes having Chewbacca on the team?)

Second Star: Jay Bouwmeester (1 goal. Wonder if he's only "Fun Bobby" when drunk?)

First Star: Joe Pavelski (2 assists, thinks teal is horrible. Probably.)