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Blues shoot for sweep of Sharks

Mar 3, 2012 - 4:02 PM (Sports Network) - The red-hot St. Louis Blues were humbled a bit in their last trip to the ice. The playoff contenders look to make their own statement tonight as they try to sweep their season series with the San Jose Sharks for the first time in 17 years.

The Blues have emerged as one of the serious contenders in the Western Conference and looked to pass or pull even with the Canucks on Thursday for the top record in the overall NHL standings. Instead, St. Louis was shut out 2-0 and not only fell three points behind Vancouver, but it is also now two points behind Detroit for first place in the Central Division.

St. Louis had won four straight -- all on the road -- prior to Thursday's setback and it wraps a six-game swing tonight. The Blues are 14-14-3 as the guest this season compared to 26-4-4 at home.

Brian Elliott got the start versus the Canucks and allowed just one goal on 23 shots. That deciding tally came 4:17 into the third from Vancouver's Alexandre Burrows.

"I lost the shot but then picked it up at the last second," said Elliott. "It took a hot bounce off the boards and he (Burrows) made a good play to get it in."

Elliott and fellow Blues netminder Jaroslav Halak are both among the league leaders with six shutouts and both own one over the Sharks this season. Elliott made 24 saves in a 1-0 win at home on Dec. 10, while Halak used 25 saves to blank San Jose in St. Louis on Feb. 12.

Coupled with a 4-2 win at San Jose back on Oct. 15, St. Louis is in position to sweep the Sharks for the first time since taking all four meetings during the 1994-95 season.

The Blues have lost seven of their past nine in San Jose, but are catching a Sharks team that was handed a 1-0 defeat by visiting Buffalo on Thursday. The Sabres Ryan Miller made 39 saves to turn the tables on San Jose netminder Antti Niemi, who was coming off his own 1-0 shutout victory two nights earlier.

Niemi made 26 saves to shut out the Flyers on Tuesday, but gave up a goal on 18 shots versus the Sabres.

"We poured it on but Miller is a world-class goalie," said San Jose center Joe Thornton. "Whatever he sees he's going to stop and we just didn't get enough traffic in front of him."

Having lost for the seventh time in nine games, the Sharks are now tied with the Stars for second in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Coyotes. San Jose and Dallas are also even for the final two playoff spots in the West.

Forward Logan Couture missed a second straight game due to a lower-body injury and is questionable to return tonight for the Sharks, while head coach Todd McLellan has also been off the bench for back-to-back games because of concussion symptoms sustained when he was hit in the head by a stick on Sunday.

McLellan did run practice on Friday, but his status for returning to the bench for this game is unknown.