ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brayden Schenn tied it late in the third period and David Perron scored on a power play in overtime in the St. Louis Blues’ 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
Mike Hoffman also scored, and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for the Blues, coming off a record seven straight games against the Arizona Coyotes.
Noah Gregor and John Leonard scored, and Martin Jones made 42 saves for the Sharks.
Perron ended it with a minute left in overtime, beating Jones through the legs on a one-timer off a feed from Hoffman. Perron also had two assists.
“I started calling for it because I knew I was behind the ‘D’, and I was going to look to make a pass and I just felt like maybe I was going to catch the goalie quick 5-hole before he could get down and it worked,” Perron said.
Binnington was credited with his second career assist on the winner.
“We felt we didn’t have enough urgency early on in the game,” Binnington said. “That’s a game we really just got to push early and get the lead and keep moving forward and just be relentless and I think it’ll come. I think we’re going to keep building as usual, but I think we can be better as a group.”
With Binnington pulled for an extra attacker, Schenn capitalized on a rebound off Hoffman’s shot to tie it with 39.2 seconds left in the third.
“I got the seam pass from Perron and I’m just looking to put it on net,” Hoffman said. “I mean the ice is pretty bad and we’re trying to get a goal so I’m not trying to be too cute, just try and put it on net and get numbers there and Schenner was in a great spot to put it in.”
The teams will finish the two-game set in St. Louis on Saturday night.
“It’s always a gut punch when you give up when at the end,” Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. “It’s tough. It’s kind of a quick, quick, bang-bang play, lands randomly on the guy’s stick and he puts it in.”
Hoffman’s power-play goal at 6:12 of the first period gave the Blues the lead. Hoffman buried a rebound off an Oskar Sundqvist shot for his second goal in three games.
It was the first time this season the Blues scored multiple power play goals in a game. St. Louis entered the game 21st in the NHL, just 8 for 47, with the man advantage.
“You’re entering the zone with possession and guys that can make plays make plays,” Hoffman said. “Move the puck around and look to get shots and opportunities and you’ve got to be working hard to retrieve the loose pucks and you know usually things will go your way.”
Gregor tied it midway through the second period, scoring on a rebound of a Nicolas Meloche shot. It was Gregor’s first goal in five games.
Leonard gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead with 5:29 left in the second when a bouncing puck off a faceoff found him all alone in front of the St. Louis net.
The goal came just over a minute after Martin made two dazzling saves on a bang-bang chance by St. Louis’ Ryan O’Reilly and Ivan Barbashev.
Martin also stopped Mackenzie MacEachern on a first-period breakaway.
“We got through the middle of the ice and when we did kick it out, we had guys going to the net and around the blue paint and we’re stopping hard at the net,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “Both goalies made some big saves at the key times and I think that we’ve got to just keep working at it.”
Barbashev left the game early in the third period after getting hit in the foot by a shot. Blues coach Craig Berube said he would be evaluated on Friday.
PANDEMIC PLAY
The Blues increased attendance to 2,600, up from 1,400 at their last home game. St. Louis plans to increase that to 3,000 for Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings with the goal of reaching 25 percent (4,700) in April per city health guidelines.
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