Sharks fall to Blues 4-0

SAN JOSE - Colton Parayko had a goal and an assist and backup Carter Hutton earned his fifth career shutout in the St. Louis Blues’ 4-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

Parayko opened the scoring with a power-play goal and added an assist on David Perron’s score to help the Blues bounce back from lopsided losses to Boston and Los Angeles earlier this week. Jori Lehtera also scored and Alex Steen had an empty-net goal for St. Louis.

Hutton, who replaced starter Jake Allen in the past two games, made 23 saves to earn the win.

Martin Jones made 22 saves for San Jose and Joe Thornton got ejected for a spearing penalty in the second period as the Sharks dropped their second consecutive game to fall four points behind first-place Anaheim in the Pacific Division.

After a scoreless first period with only a handful of good scoring chances, including Chris Tierney hitting a post early for San Jose, the game opened up in the second.

The Sharks got the first opportunity when Steen and Alex Pietrangelo were called for slashes 11 seconds apart.

San Jose couldn’t cash in the two-man advantage with Joe Pavelski missing an open net and then committing an interference penalty.

That eventually gave the Blues their first power-play chance and they took advantage when Parayko’s point shot deflected off defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and into the net for a 1-0 lead. The Sharks challenged the goal, claiming it came following an offside entry, but the replay was inconclusive and the call stood.

St. Louis added to the lead when Parayko’s point shot hit defenseman Brenden Dillon’s skate and Parron got to the loose puck and jammed it in between Jones’ left skate and the post for a 2-0 lead.

The frustration for the Sharks boiled over with Thornton getting a game misconduct for a major spearing penalty against Paul Stastny.