Photo credit: Jeff Roberson AP Photo

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~San Jose got past St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott in a 3-1 win, as they moved back up in the Western Conference Thursday.

Elliott gave up three goals for the first time since January 16 as the Blues’ offense struggled again.

Joe Pavelski was the primary assist on the first two goals

Both teams were scoreless on the power play again, the Sharks 0-for-4 and St. Louis 0-for-2.

San Jose had an early turnover in the first, like in the game versus the Ducks. Vladimir Tarasenko then had a close chance, but goalie Martin Jones reacted with a nice save. Right after, Justin Braun was called for slashing at 1:06 as the Blues went on the penalty kill.

Alexander Steen led all with four shots.

Like last game, in the second, the shots dropped but the goals went up.

The Sharks started with another first shift turnover that led to a 2-on-1.

San Jose scored first at 3:55. Joonas Donskoi took a pass from Pavelski as Donskoi raced to the net. The puck hit the post before it went past Elliott, as Donskoi got his seventh point in eight games.

More penalties overlapped in the second. St. Louis’ Jori Lehtera was called for hooking at 5:09. Donskoi went in the air after a collision with Hertl. Teammate Brent Burns was then called for tripping at 6:33. 16 seconds later, Tarasenko was called for tripping too.

At 7:15, after losing his 10-game point streak versus Anaheim, Joe Thornton was back at it. Marc-Edouard Vlasic near the point, passed it to Pavelski in the faceoff circle, who passed it to Thornton in the other, as he went five hole. With the game winning goal, Thornton vaulted out of a three way team tie to second on the team.

A lot more puck possession in front of Martin Jones bore fruit for St. Louis, as Paul Stastny passed to Alex Pietrangelo, who passed cross ice to Jay Bouwmeester. It was Bouwmeester’s second goal, but initially it was credited to Tarasenko up front.  

In the third, the Sharks stayed hungry. While Joel Ward tied up a defender, Matt Nieto scored solo five hole at 16:44 to make it 3-1.

Game notes: San Jose remained perfect in regulation after leading after two (19-0-2). Both Stastny and Thornton, hot versus the other team, got another point. It was the second collision between Sharks’ teammates in as many games. San Jose plays game three of their four game road trip Saturday against the Nashville Predators at 4:30pm.