Scoring Chances: Game 3 v. St. Louis

Although the final score was determined by special teams, the Blues' complete and utter suffocation of the Sharks at even strength in Game 3 was just as significant a reason the Sharks are now down 2-1 in this series. Despite winning the neutral zone battle for much of the night and establishing a territorial advantage, San Jose wasn't given an inch to operate in the offensive zone with St. Louis keeping them almost exclusively to the perimeter and limiting them to just 6 EV scoring chances all night and just one in the third period (and even that was Logan Couture's goal with Antti Niemi pulled meaning it wasn't really at even strength). Perhaps most indicative of the Blues' defensive-zone dominance was the fact that the Sharks failed to generate a single rebound chance at evens.

Aside from the Sharks potting two goals late to make things interesting, this game was reminiscent of the last time these two teams met on San Jose ice when the Blues limited the Sharks to just 4 even-strength scoring chances and inflicted a ton of damage with their power play. It's difficult to even properly evaluate the penalty kill side of the Game 3 equation using scoring chances because the Sharks allowed goals almost immediately after being penalized on each occasion. The only real positive is that the Blues weren't able to get a lot done outside of their power play either, only outchancing the Sharks 8-6 at evens and 13-11 overall but the biggest reason for that is probably the team getting out to a lead a minute into the second period and, given the effectiveness of their system, not having much of an incentive to subsequently push the pace offensively.

Best EV Forward: Joe Thornton (+2)

Worst EV Forward: Andrew Desjardins (-4)

Best EV Defenseman: Brent Burns (even)

Worst EV Defenseman: Douglas Murray (-3)

More stats from the game: Corsi/Fenwick, Shift Charts, H2H Ice Time, Zonestarts, Play-By-Play, Box Score