BROWNNOSE
BOOTLICKER
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Dany Heatley broke out of a scoring slump with a pair of goals that helped the San Jose Sharks snap a six-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
Joe Thornton also scored and added an assist to move past teammate Patrick Marleau for the top spot in Sharks history with 390. Antti Niemi made those goals stand up with 28 saves, giving last season's Western Conference runners-up their first win since New Year's Day in Los Angeles.
San Jose had not earned a point in six games, its longest stretch of futility since the 1995-96 season. The Sharks also had lost six straight home games for their longest drought in nearly 14 years.
All those streaks came to an after Heatley broke a tie with his 17th goal of the season early in the third period. He was standing alone in the slot when he deflected Marc-Edouard Vlasic's point shot past Jaroslav Halak to give San Jose a 3-2 lead 4:35 into the third.
Heatley had scored just once in 14 games before breaking through with two goals. He nearly had the hat trick as he was originally credited with San Jose's goal in the second period, as well. But officials gave it Thornton after looking at replays.
Jamie McGinn added an insurance goal later in the third when he knocked in a rebound of Scott Nichol's shot for his first of the season.
Making the win even sweeter for San Jose was the fact that many of the players had their fathers in town for an annual trip. The fathers will join the Sharks for their game in Phoenix on Monday.
B.J. Crombeen and Erik Johnson scored for the Blues, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.
The Sharks scored power-play goals in each of the first two periods but were still tied heading into the third. The first came late in the opening period when Thornton slid a pass through the crease to Heatley, who tapped it in for the easy goal to tie the game at 1.
Thornton then got a goal in the second with Ian Cole in the penalty box for holding Benn Ferriero. He knocked the rebound of Dan Boyle's point shot past Halak to give San Jose a 2-1 advantage.
That lead didn't last long as St. Louis tied it late in the period just 7 seconds after Ferriero and Cole were sent off for fighting. Patrik Berglund won the faceoff back to Erik Johnson, who skated in and shot the puck through Niemi's pads to tie it at 2 with 2:07 left in the second period.
The first goal of the game was emblematic of how things have gone lately for the Sharks. Niemi appeared to make a shoulder stop on a wrist shot by Crombeen. But the puck popped in the air, landed behind Niemi in the crease and trickled into the net to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead.
NOTES: Sharks F Ryane Clowe had his consecutive games streak snapped at 129 after he injured a leg on Thursday. ... San Jose F Logan Couture returned after missing one game with a knee injury. ... Blues F David Perron (concussion) hasn't played since Nov. 4 against San Jose when he had a mid-ice collision with Thornton, who was suspended two games.
