Quick Bite: Sharks shut out on Fear the Fin Night

The return of Paul Martin and David Schlemko to the blue line on Saturday night gave the Sharks (25–16–2) their strongest lineup in weeks, but a disastrous second period left them w a deficit they couldn’t hope to overcome the way they played tonight. Joe Thornton’s game misconduct penalty after San Jose went down 2–0 left his team shorthanded once again as St. Louis (22–16–5) took the second of three matchups between these two teams this season by a score of 4–0.

Following an uneventful first period, the second was anything but. Colton Parayko started things off with a power play goal after the Sharks failed to capitalize on almost two minutes of 5-on-3 time. Alexander Steen and Alex Pietrangelo gave San Jose the two-man advantage with back-to-back slashing penalties, but Joe Pavelski took an interference penalty to negate the final 45 seconds of power play time for San Jose, and Parayko potted his second goal of the year on the ensuing St. Louis chance.

The Blues doubled their lead halfway through the period when Martin Jones couldn't seal the post against David Perron, then Thornton was slapped with a five-minute major and a game misconduct for spearing Paul Stasny.

Thus ensued an unusual sequence that saw the Sharks briefly earn a 4-on-3 power play following hooking and bench minors by the Blues with Micheal Haley in the box serving Thornton’s penalty. Neither the Sharks nor the Blues would score during the series of penalties as the crazy second period ended with San Jose down 2–0.

Though the Sharks avoided further ejections in the third, it wasn’t any better on the scoresheet. Jori Lehtera made it 3–0 St. Louis at 9:16 of the period, redirecting a shot by Pietrangelo past Jones. Steen scored an empty net goal with 5:23 left to put to rest any hope of a Sharks comeback.

Notes

• Chris Tierney came within inches of getting the Sharks on the board two and a half minutes into the contest, beating one-time Worcester Shark Carter Hutton with a shot but ringing it off the post.
• Pete DeBoer challenged St. Louis’ first goal to see if it was offsides, but the review was deemed inconclusive.
• Thornton’s game misconduct was his first since the one he earned for hitting Perron in 2010.

Fear the Fin’s Three Stars

1. Colton Parayko

2. Carter Hutton

3. David Perron