ST. LOUIS (AP) - With five goals and two assists in his last four games, Mikkel Boedker is on quite a tear at an opportune time.
Boedker and Logan Couture each had a goal and an assist, sending the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 victory over the slumping St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
“When you’re on a roll, the puck seems to find you a little bit,” Boedker said. “It feels really good. Obviously, it’s a good time of the year to be productive.”
Joonas Donskoi also scored and Martin Jones made 30 saves for San Jose, which has won five of its last six games.
“He was money tonight,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said about Jones. “I think the story of the game was that Jonesey was big at the right times and we capitalized on some of the mistakes they made.”
Ivan Barbashev and Vladimir Tarasenko had the goals for the Blues, who have lost a season-high four straight.
St. Louis coach Mike Yeo was not happy with his team’s performance.
“I didn’t think we played well,” Yeo said. “Desperation time was a while ago. This is where pride has to come in. We have to make sure we stop the bleeding and we have to start building confidence in the game that we’re playing.
“We can’t accept the fact that we’re playing good and not winning hockey games. We need points. We need wins and we need to start doing it now.”
After a scoreless first period, the teams combined for five goals in the second.
San Jose took a 1-0 lead when Couture knocked in a loose puck at 6:35. Boedker fired in a shot from the point that goalie Carter Hutton blocked but couldn’t corral. Couture was on the spot and scored his 24th of the season.
“It’s been a good year so far offensively,” Couture said. “I think I’ve capitalized on the chances I’ve had. Tonight was a nice one to get the puck on my stick and have a wide-open net. Hopefully I can continue it.”
St. Louis answered at 8:23 when Barbashev scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that sailed over Jones’ arm.
Donskoi beat Hutton on a wrist shot from the left circle at 12:05. Couture assisted on Donskoi’s first goal in 17 games.
Boedker gave San Jose a 3-1 lead at 15:54 when he scored from the left side of the net.
“It was just a matter of putting it home,” he said.
Tarasenko cut the margin to 3-2 on a power play when he fired in the rebound of a shot by Vince Dunn at 19:36 for his 24th of the season. Tarasenko has 10 points in his last nine games (four goals, six assists) against the Sharks.
Despite the late goal, it was not a good period for the Blues.
“They were just better than us in the second period,” Yeo said. “We were sloppy. I thought we were drifting all over the place.”
San Jose’s Brent Burns prevented a goal with less than five minutes left. During a scramble in front of the net, the puck hit the post and was sliding along the goal line when Burns knocked it out.
“You work for your own luck,” Yeo said. “You earn your luck. We just dug ourselves too big a hole against a good defensive team.”
This was the first meeting between St. Louis and San Jose this season. The Blues swept the three-game season series last year, outscoring the Sharks 11-3 overall, and had won four straight against the Sharks.
Hutton made his second start in the last five games and stopped 20 shots. Previously against the Sharks, he was 4-0-1 with a 0.98 goals-against average, a .968 save percentage and two shutouts in five career starts.
“I think the time for moral victories has come and gone,” Hutton said. “We’ve got to win hockey games and get points.”
Blues defenseman Colton Parayko agreed.
“We’ve got 21 games left and there’s a lot of points left out there on the board,” Parayko said. “We have a group that can win and we’re looking forward to the stretch.”
NOTES: The Sharks acquired C Eric Fehr from Toronto for a seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft. … Blues C Vladimir Sobotka was out of the lineup with an illness. It was the first game he has missed this season. … The Blues have recalled forward Sammy Blais from the AHL for the fourth time this season. Blais, who leads the San Antonio Rampage with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists), last played for St. Louis on Dec. 16, when he got hurt against Winnipeg. … San Jose forward Tomas Hertl missed another game with an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT
Sharks: At the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
Blues: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
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