SAN JOSE – A Friday afternoon start proved to be a good omen for the San Jose Sharks.
Four games into a season-high five-game homestand, the Sharks jumped to a 4-0 lead after one period and held on for a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues at sold-out SAP Center.
The Blues brought the league’s second-best (39) point total into the game, having won their past five straight. By the final horn, San Jose had 39 points and a share of the Pacific Division lead.
Brent Burns tallied two goals and Logan Couture had three assists in the first period. After the Blues came back with three goals to trail 4-3, Burns earned his first career hat trick with a power play goal from the left dot 12:19 into the third.
The Sharks face co-division leader Anaheim Saturday night before heading out on a four-game roadtrip.
Burns posted four points for the afternoon when his length of the ice shot while the Blues had pulled the goaltender in the closing minute was stuffed home by Tomas Hertl to complete the scoring.
The outcome did not appear to be in doubt after the Sharks posted a 12-2 edge in shots on net in the first 2 minutes.
San Jose needed 35 seconds to take a 1-0 lead. As Couture went to the right boards to steal the puck, Burns glided into the slot and turned a Patrick Marleau soft pass into a one-timer past goalie Brian Elliott.
The Sharks moved to 2-0 on their first power play. Joe Pavelski dropped a no-look pass back to Joe Thornton and the captain lifted a shot over Elliott’s glove at the 3:01 mark
Burns began the next scoring play with a breakout pass to Thornton. Hertl took a Thornton pass and found the streaking Burns at the top of inside edge of the right circle for the hard shot past Elliott at 9:14. Tommy Wingels made it 4-0 when we whipped a long shot inside the right post off a feed from Couture. The four-goal outburst matched the second-period production against the New York Rangers.
The Blues quieted the crowd when defenseman Ian Cole scored off Antti Niemi 11:03 into the second while the teams were skating 4 on 4. The third period found the Blues back on offense with a David Backes power play goal at 2:02, then another 4 on 4 goal by Jaden Schwartz.
Burns gave San Jose a two-goal cushion when he scored off goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
“Great screen,” Burns said of Joe Pavelski’s positioning in from of Halak.
“The stuff he does is amazing,” Thornton said of Burns’ performance.
“We looked real sharp at the start of the game,” sad Thornton. “We knew it would be a good test for us and we passed the test.”
