San Jose Sharks Martin Havlat (9) fights for the puck against St. Louis Blues Patrik Berglund (21) in the second period of game three of the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 16, 2012. (Josie Lepe/Staff)
Home-ice advantage didn't stand a chance.
A Sharks penalty kill that finished 29th in the NHL during the regular season didn't fare well Monday night at HP Pavilion, as the St. Louis Blues scored three power-play goals en route to a 4-3 victory that wasn't as close as the final score indicated in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.
The Sharks, who won the first game in St. Louis, now trail the Blues 2-1 in the series and surrendered the home-ice advantage that first victory had brought them four days ago.
Patrik Berglund, Jason Arnott and Alexander Steen notched St. Louis' power-play goals, and Sharks netminder Antti Niemi also gave up an even-strength tally to Andy McDonald. The Sharks got a first-period goal from Brent Burns and two in the final four minutes as both Colin White and Logan Couture beat Blues netminder Brian Elliott.
The Sharks played down the likelihood that this game might begin the way their last one ended, as 88 minutes in penalties were called at the final buzzer of San Jose's 3-0 loss Saturday in St. Louis. And Monday's game was a relatively peaceful one.
The teams traded power-play goals in the first period.
With Tommy Wingels in the penalty box for high-sticking St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, the Blues took the lead at 14:31 when Carlo Colaiacovo's shot from the blue line hit the post behind Niemi and sat in the crease until Berglund poked it into the open net.
But the Sharks
got that one back after Blues defenseman Roman Polak was sent off for cross-checking a little more than a minute later. Joe Thornton flipped the puck into the offensive zone over Blues defenseman Kris Russell, and Burns swooped in for a backhand shot that ended Elliott's shutout streak over San Jose at 144:20.The second period belonged to the Blues -- start to finish.
St. Louis got the first even-strength goal of the game just 61 seconds after the break, and it was another Colaiacovo shot from the blue line that started the sequence. This time the puck never reached the net, bouncing off Berglund to McDonald all alone to the left of the crease for an easy tap-in.
The Blues went a perfect 2 for 2 on the power play when Douglas Murray was off for interfering with Blues pest Scott Nichol. Arnott finished off some solid puck movement by taking a cross-crease pass from McDonald and buried it back door at 10:06.
San Jose did generate scoring chances in the second period, but Elliott stopped all 10 shots he faced, including a tough backhand by Thornton after a strong solo effort. Just as he did in Game 2, Joe Pavelski beat the Blues goalie only to have the puck go off iron behind him.
Two hits by the Sharks -- Burns' check on McDonald at the end of the first period and Daniel Winnik's boarding penalty at 19:39 of the second -- drew a crowd, but nothing developed beyond a little pushing and shoving.
With Winnik still off the ice, the Blues got their third power-play goal 59 seconds into the final period when Niemi failed to stop Steen's shot from the right point.
White's goal at 16:58 of the third period narrowed the gap to 4-2 when a shot by Ryane Clowe bounced back high in the right faceoff circle and White fired it back toward the net. And with 17 seconds left in the game, Couture took a feed from Thornton and beat Elliott to make it a one-goal game.
For more on the Sharks, see David Pollak's Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks.
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