Logan Couture scored twice as the visiting San Jose Sharks defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-4 Saturday night.
The Blues rallied from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to tie the game, but Couture scored the decisive goal in the third period.
Evander Kane had a goal and an assist while Rudolfs Balcers and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Sharks. Kevin Lebanc had two assists.
Devan Dubnyk, back from a minor lower-body injury, made 28 saves for the Sharks in his first start since Feb. 6.
Jordan Kyrou (goal, two assists), Ryan O’Reilly (goal, assist) and Brayden Schenn (goal, assist) paced the Blues’ offense. Zach Sanford also scored and Mike Hoffman had two assists.
Jordan Binnington allowed the five goals on 27 shots.
The Sharks took charge early by scoring twice in the first 10:10 of the game.
Sanford turned the puck over to Kane in his own zone — and Kane snapped the puck through Binnington from the right circle for his fifth goal of the season.
San Jose made it 2-0 after Binnington turned the puck over to Lebanc while moving the puck along the wall. Lebanc fed Couture at the net front for a redirection goal.
The Sharks upped their lead to 3-0 at 3:48 of the second period when Tomas Hertl set up Balcers with a centering pass from behind the net into slot. It was Balcers’ first goal of the season.
Less than a minute later Schenn cut the lead to 3-1 by driving to the left post and converting Kyrou’s pass from behind of the net for his team-high ninth goal.
Marleau restored San Jose’s three-goal lead by burying Kane’s cross-ice pass for his first of the campaign at 8:18.
But the Blues erased that 4-1 margin with a three-goal flurry to close out the second period.
Sanford deflected Torey Krug’s point shot past Dubnyk just 19 seconds after Marleau’s goal. O’Reilly scored a sharp-angle snipe during a delayed penalty on the Sharks. Then Kyrou tied the game 4-4 by scoring from the left wing on a 2-on-1 break with just 1:19 left in the period.
But Couture fluttered a shot past Binnington with 8:09 left for his ninth of the season to put the Sharks up 5-4.
–Field Level Media