SAN JOSE, Calif. _ It's a real possibility the San Jose Sharks will face the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs.
If that's the case, sometime between now and then, the Sharks will have to figure out a way to generate some offense against the customarily stingy Blues.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored the only goal for the Sharks in a 4-1 loss to the Blues at SAP Center, missing a chance to move up a peg in the Western Conference standings.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and Scottie Upshall and Zach Sanford both had one for St. Louis, which completed the three-game season-sweep of the Sharks, outscoring San Jose 10-3 in the process.
How tough was it for the Sharks offense? Through two periods, forwards Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Joonas Donskoi, Jannik Hansen, Joel Ward, Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney had combined for exactly zero shots on goal.
The Sharks finished with 20 shots on goal, matching a season-low.
That didn't leave much in the way of support for goalie Aaron Dell, who stopped 18 of 20 shots through two periods. Dell had gone 4-0-1 in his last five starts, with his last loss in regulation time coming Feb. 9 at Boston. In that game, he came on in relief of Martin Jones but still got stuck with the defeat.
With the loss, the Sharks missed an opportunity to leapfrog the Minnesota Wild and move into second place in the Western Conference standings. As it is, the Wild, which lost to Carolina 3-1 on Thursday, remained at 92 points and are still a point ahead of the Sharks.
The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1 on Thursday and lead the West with 95 points.
The Blues took a 2-1 lead at the 5:49 mark of the second.
Jay Bouwmeester's attempted shot was redirected behind the Sharks' net and the bounce came right to Sanford, who went top shelf from a sharp angle to beat Dell for his third goal of the season. The Sharks managed just five shots on goal in the second period.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period.
A Sharks' giveaway led to the Blues' first goal, as a Brent Burns' pass intended for Thornton was intercepted along the boards in the neutral zone by Upshall. He carried it across the blue line as used Paul Martin as a screen to get a wrist shot past Dell for a 1-0 St. Louis lead at the 16:40 mark.
The Sharks got the goal back almost immediately. After a forecheck, the puck swung around to Vlasic, whose shot toward Joel Ward in the slot went off Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson's skate and past goalie Carter Hutton at the 17:45 mark. It was Vlasic's fifth goal of the season.
Dell was making his fourth start in eight games this month and came into the game with a 10-3-1 and a 1.82 goals against average. His .938 save percentage led all NHL goalies who had played at least 15 games.
In his three other starts this month, Dell had allowed four goals with a .951 save percentage.
St. Louis was one of five teams that had beaten the Sharks two times this season, with Anaheim, Calgary, Minnesota. Pittsburgh being the others.
In their last meeting against the Blues this season, on Jan. 14 at SAP Center, Hutton stopped 23 shots to hand the Sharks a 4-0 loss, just one of two times San Jose has been shut out at home this season.
That loss dropped San Jose's record to 25-16-2 as the Sharks were four points out of first place in the Pacific. But after that game, the Sharks went on a season-long six-game win streak and by Jan. 25, were one point ahead of Edmonton for first place.
The Blues had won five straight before they lost to Anaheim on Wednesday, and entered Thursday's game holding the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, four points ahead of Los Angeles and four behind the Oilers.
The Blues were one of a handful of teams the Sharks will face over the next three-plus weeks that could be an early playoff opponent. The Sharks play Anaheim for the last time in the regular season on Saturday, then face both Calgary and Edmonton twice over the last 10 days.
"You want to set the tone," Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "For teams like (St. Louis) and even teams like us, it's almost as if the playoffs have already started. ... This time of year, you definitely want to be feeling good about your game."
Coming into Thursday, Hutton was 3-0-1 with two shutouts, a 0.98 goals against average and a .971 save percentage in four games against the Sharks.
