ST. LOUIS — David Perron scored his 18th goal of the season and Jordan Binnington stopped 28 shots, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
Tyler Bozak and Ivan Barbashev also scored for St. Louis, which has won six straight at home. Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson notched San Jose’s goals.
This was the first matchup between the teams in St. Louis since the Blues eliminated the Sharks in Game 6 of last year’s Western Conference Final. St. Louis won 5-2 in San Jose on Dec. 21.
The Blues are 8-3-1 in their last 12 regular-season games against the Sharks.
San Jose centre Logan Couture, who is in his 11th season, was helped off the ice at 12:27 of the second period and did not return. Couture and St. Louis’ Vince Dunn collided and went into the boards. Couture was favouring his left knee, which he banged into the boards. He leads the Sharks with 36 points — 14 goals and 22 assists.
St. Louis scored two goals 80 seconds apart in the second period to take a 2-0 lead.
Bozak scored at 5:39 of the second. Alexander Steen dropped a pass back between his legs to Bozak, who snapped a wrist shot from the right circle. It was Bozak’s fourth goal in his last six games.
St. Louis made it 2-0 when Barbashev scored at 6:59. Barbashev missed a breakaway shot that was blocked by San Jose goalie Aaron Dell, who had 24 saves. Couture got the rebound but Oskar Sundqvist stole the puck. He passed to Barbashev, who scored from just outside the crease. It was Barbashev’s first goal since Dec. 7.
San Jose got within 2-1 on a power-play goal at 2:14 of the third period. Meier scored on a slap shot from the top of the right circle. It was his 15th goal this season. Meier has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past six games.
St. Louis got the two-goal lead back when Perron scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. Ryan O’Reilly won the faceoff and the puck went to Perron, whose shot hit the hand of San Jose’s Stefan Noesen and tumbled end-over-end into the net at 4:07.
Perron has scored six goals and recorded eight assists in his last 10 games.
An offsides call cost the Blues a goal at 12:25. Jordan Kyrou found the net but was ruled offsides after a replay review.
Karlsson scored at 16:50 to make it 3-2. He backhanded the puck from behind the goal into the crease, and O’Reilly inadvertently knocked it in.
NOTES
Sharks C Joe Thornton needs one game to tie Ray Bourque (1,612) for 11th place on NHL all-time list. … Blues D Colton Parayko missed his second game and is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. … Niko Mikkola, a fifth-round draft pick in 2015, made his NHL debut as he filled in for Parayko.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Host Columbus on Thursday.
Blues: Host Buffalo on Thursday.
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Warren Mayes, The Associated Press
