Jeremy Roenick, Brian Campbell and Patrick Marleau also scored in a dominant four-goal opening period that helped San Jose increase its lead in the Pacific Division over idle Dallas and Anaheim. The Sharks are three points ahead of the Stars and four in front of the Ducks, with two games in hand over both teams.
That's quite a turnaround from the end of last month when San Jose was 11 points behind Dallas. All it took to erase that was the longest winning streak in the NHL since New Jersey won its final 11 games of the 2005-06 season.
While many of those games were close - all decided by two goals or fewer with two going to shootouts and a third decided in overtime
- this one was over almost from the start against a Blues team that has lost 11 of 12.
San Jose's top line applied heavy pressure on the opening shift and it paid off when Campbell fed Michalek, who beat Hannu Toivonen into the top of the net just 1:10 into the game. The Sharks didn't let up and the onslaught was on from there.
Roenick tipped in a shot from the point by Craig Rivet just 1 second after Andy McDonald came out of the penalty box for a high-sticking infraction to make it 2-0 midway through the period.
Less than 2 minutes later, Joe Thornton fed a trailing Campbell for a one-timed shot that beat Toivonen for his seventh goal of the season. The scoring barrage was capped when Erik Johnson pulled Marleau down from behind for a penalty shot. Marleau converted from there to make it 4-0 at 13:25.
