(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

By Pearl Allison Lo

In what San Jose was hoping would be an improvement from last matchup, it was the same old result as Saint Louis defeated San Jose 7-2 Thursday.

Saint Louis now has 20 goals in their last three games, 14 of them against the Sharks.

The Blues spread out the goals more evenly this time. Alexander Steen, Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera, T.J. Oshie and David Backes each had a goal and assist apiece. Jaden Schwartz passed for three assists and Vladimir Tarasenko for two.

San Jose came to within one goal after being down by two twice, but could not muster more.

Saint Louis were mostly quick to rebound when the Sharks capitalized or came near.

It was the Sharks’ Antti Niemi and the Blues’ Brian Elliott to start the game in net again, as Elliott stopped 24 shots.

San Jose’s Logan Couture & Tommy Wingels had a shorthanded 2-on-1 in the first when Couture’s shot was stopped. The rebound though, went to Steen, who was part of a 3-on-2 to score on the power play at 10:38. Steen’s linemates were Tarasenko and Schwartz.

The Sharks then fell behind 2-0 for the second game when Jay Bouwmeester had his second goal of the season. Tarasenko had his second assist of the night and Lehtera aided at 15:06.

About a minute and a half later, San Jose’s Joe Pavelski got a double minor for drawing blood.

Just over halfway into the penalty, Couture got another chance at a 2-on-1 shorthand, this time with Brenden Dillon and did not miss. Dillon had his sixth assist to make it 2-1.

Stastny, however, reestablished Saint Louis’s two-goal lead over 30 seconds later with their second man advantage goal at 19:06. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk helped with the game winner. The Blues also had two power play goals in the last meeting.

Undaunted, Melker Karlsson resumed the back and forth scoring 29 seconds into the second period, with his fourth goal in four games, bringing the Sharks to within one.  Couture and Burns assisted with Burns’ assists and points streak now at four games.

That would be the extent of the comeback though in this game, as Saint Louis kept rolling, though San Jose had two more close chances.

During a power play that started at 6:15, Pavelski had the Sharks’ best shot and Elliott his best save up until that point, after Matt Irwin made a shot.

Schwartz found a wide open Lehtera at 8:52 to make it 4-2.

On the other end, before Niemi gave up his fifth goal, Pavelski was up in front of Elliott, but Pavelski dropped his stick after it was hit by the puck. Backes then shot the puck along the boards to Steen, who shot at Niemi. Oshie got the rebound to take out Niemi at 13:20 in favor of Alex Stalock.

The Blues then got to Stalock, Patrik Berglund scoring the first goal at 9:05 with Stastny to make it 6-2.

Backes mimicked the 7-2 score from Saturday at 11:59, with Schwartz and Alex Pietrangelo.

Game notes: San Jose’s Joe Thornton did not play as anticipated. The Sharks outhit Saint Louis 28-14. San Jose’s James Sheppard led with six. It was Todd McLellan’s 500th professionally coached hockey game. The Sharks now face the New York Rangers at home Saturday at 7pm.