By Taylor Lupetti (@tayclupetti ):
The San Jose Sharks climbed back to No. 2 in the Pacific Division with a 2-0 win against the St. Louis Blues. The game marked Martin Jones’s 16th career shutout.
It was a slow start as both teams remained scoreless in the first two periods.
Left-wing forward Mikkel Boedker broke the silence with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period off a power-play goal.
“It definitely felt good to get that in the back of the net,” Boedker said. “We knew about the opportunities that we’d missed. I think we were 0 for 28, we knew that. We know what’s going on. It’s just a matter of sticking with it.”
An empty-net goal by center Tomas Hertl with 14 seconds left of play pushed the Sharks to a 2-0 shutout-win.
At the final horn, the Sharks had 36 shots on goal against St. Louis goaltender Jake Allen. Jones defended San Jose’s net from 16 shots on goal to earn his fourth shutout of the season.
“It’s the way we need to play moving forward,” Jones said. “It’s a good thing if I’m not getting too many shots.”
With twice as many shots on goal than the Blues, the Sharks showed consistency in attacking the net and keeping the puck in their zone.
“The Blues battled hard, their goalie made some big saves. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “What I liked was our resiliency. We stuck with it, didn’t try and force it, knew that if we stayed with it long enough it would come and eventually we got rewarded.”
The Sharks stay home for the weekend to take on the Washington Capitals Saturday at 1 p.m.