Blues sweep season series with Sharks

~ St. Louis finished a 5-1 road trip with a 3-1 victory late Saturday night

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks serve as a sort of measuring stick for St. Louis after making the Western Conference finals the past two seasons while the Blues have missed the playoffs.

The Sharks were no match for the Blues this season.

Andy McDonald and Kevin Shattenkirk scored power-play goals, and St. Louis capped a four-game season sweep of the Sharks with a 3-1 victory Saturday night.

"They've had our number pretty good in the past," forward T.J. Oshie said. "We just kind of came together. We know it's going to be a hard game. We know we can't outskill them. They have a lot of skill on that team and a lot of big skill. When we try to go chance for chance against them it's not going to end well for us."

Blues defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo celebrates after scoring against the Sharks during the first period Saturday in San Jose, Calif. The Blues won 3-1. (Marcio Jose Sanchez ~ Associated Press)

Oshie also scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves for the Blues, who outscored the Sharks 10-1 over the final 10 periods played between the teams this season. St. Louis had lost 20 of the previous 26 games between the teams.

"They're one of the best teams in the league year in and year out," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "Big points for us there. You never know, we might end up playing them in the first round. Just give them a taste if we do play them of what to expect."

The Sharks need to do work just to get to the postseason. They have lost nine of their last 12 games to fall out of first place in the Pacific Division and only have a one-point lead over Los Angeles for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Blues dominated the season series against the Sharks since scoring three goals during the third period in the first meeting and erasing a 2-1 deficit. St. Louis then shut out San Jose in two games at home, including one that started the current skid by the Sharks.

The Sharks struggled to get the puck on net, much less score Saturday. The team that leads the NHL in shots on goal with 34.5 per game this season generated just 10 in the first 40 minutes, including three in a listless second period. San Jose had one shot on three power plays and 19 shots overall.

"It didn't fully portray our lack of zone time and scoring chances," Sharks assistant Matt Shaw said. "Their level of hockey was dramatically better than ours, and our execution was poor."

The Blues got their second power-play goal of the game when Shattenkirk scored on a rebound after a scramble in front of Antti Niemi to make it 3-1.

San Jose got no shots on its only power play in the third period as the Blues coasted to the win, completing a 5-1 road trip that has them tied with Detroit for second place in the Western Conference.

with 89 points.

"We're a hard team to play against," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We don't have much quit in us, and we're willing to work for it."

St. Louis took advantage of a fortuitous bounce to take the early lead. After Halak stopped Patrick Marleau on a short-handed breakaway, the Blues attempted to dump the puck behind the San Jose net. Niemi went to play the puck but it caromed off the boards to McDonald, who was all alone for the easy tap-in goal.

The Sharks tied it late in the period when Torrey Mitchell threw a puck on net from the side boards that trickled past Halak to end a scoring drought of 134 minutes, 7 seconds for the Sharks.

The good feeling lasted only 20 seconds before Oshie tipped Carlo Colaiacovo's point shot past Niemi to give the Blues a 2-1 lead after one period.

"That was the turning point in the game," Hitchcock said. "We didn't give them a chance to celebrate. We didn't give them a chance to gain any momentum, and then we kept the burners up most of the game."

Noteworthy

* Sharks coach Todd McLellan missed his third consecutive game with concussion symptoms after being hit in the head by a stick last Sunday in Minnesota.

* The Blues extended their streak of consecutive penalty kills to 27.