Quick Bite: Power play woes doom Sharks in 3-2 loss to Blues

San Jose got six power plays on Thursday night and converted a grand total of zero of them. As such, it’s no surprise the Sharks lost to the St. Louis Blues 3-2 to make it a two-game losing streak after winning the first three contests of a six gamer road trip.

The Sharks got their sixth power play with 55.2 seconds left in the contest and had great chances. Patrick Marleau had two killer opportunities to steer pucks home but was unable to do so.

Jake Allen deserves some credit for a fine performance, as do the Blues’ penalty killers, but a power play as good as the Sharks needs to take advantage when so many opportunities are given. It didn’t help that Martin Jones didn’t have a great night, allowing three goals on 25 shots.

Pete DeBoer made some changes to the top power play unit late in the game, putting Joel Ward out in the stead of Marleau. We’ll see if any long term changes come ahead of the Sharks’ next game against the Coyotes on Saturday.

Logan Couture scored his first even strength goal of the year and rookie Kevin Labanc scored the first goal of his NHL career. Both of those come at a good time as San Jose has struggled to score this year. It figures that on a night the Sharks get going at even strength they fail to convert on special teams.

St. Louis snapped the Sharks’ penalty killing streak at 26. That’s the franchise’s longest streak since 2003. While the streak is over, San Jose’s penalty kill (specifically Martin Jones’ play on it) has been quite good lately. Again, that’s crucial given ... you get it. The Sharks should score more.

San Jose already locked up at least a .500 road trip and now heads to Arizona for its final game before returning home to host the Ducks. After laying an egg in their last trip to Glendale, let’s see if the Sharks put together a more respectable effort on Saturday.