Johnson helps Blues shut out Sharks

[November 10, 2018]    Chad Johnson stopped all 33 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season and the eighth of his career as the St. Louis Blues pulled away for a 4-0 win over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Friday night.

Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen each had a goal and an assist to lead the Blues. Alex Pietrangelo and Ryan O'Reilly also scored as St. Louis won for the second game in a row and the fourth time in the past five contests.

Brent Burns and Timo Meier paced San Jose with six shots on goal each. The Sharks have dropped back-to-back games and were shut out for the second time this season.

Johnson made six saves in the first period, 13 in the second and 14 in the third to notch his first shutout since Nov. 30, 2016.

Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 27 saves on 31 shots to fall to 1-2-2 on the season.

St. Louis opened the scoring with 5:10 to play in the first period. Vladimir Tarasenko handled the puck behind the net and slid a hard pass to Pietrangelo, who lifted a wrist shot for his second goal of the season.

The sequence increased Tarasenko's point streak to six games. He has four goals and four assists during that span.

The Blues increased their lead to 2-0 with 14:32 remaining in the second period. O'Reilly punched a shot into the net from the right side of the crease to extend his point streak to a career-high nine games (eight goals, eight assists).

Schwartz scored midway through the second period to make it 3-0. He capitalized on a perfectly placed pass from Tyler Bozak for his second goal of the season and his first since Oct. 25.

Blues center Brayden Schenn missed his second straight game because of an upper-body injury.

Sharks defenseman Tim Heed made his season debut. The 27-year-old from Sweden registered one shot in 13:01 of ice time. He appeared in 30 games over the previous two seasons with San Jose.

The Blues improved to 5-1-2 when they score first. The Sharks are 1-4-0 when their opponent scores first, compared with a record of 7-2-3 when they notch the opening goal.

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.