Blues down Sharks 4-2 to level NHL playoff series
LOS ANGELES: Robert Bortuzzo scored the go-ahead goal in the second period Monday as the St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks 42 to knot their NHL playoff series at one game apiece.
Bortuzzo's first goal in 31 Stanley Cup playoff appearances gave the Blues a 3-2 lead with a backhand at 16:34 of the second period.
Logan Couture scored twice in space of 1min 59sec earlier in the period to pull the Sharks level at 2-2 in the contest at SAP Center in San Jose.
Bortuzzo, who had scored just two goals for the Blues in the regular season and has never had more than four in any of his eight NHL campaigns, responded, taking a pass from Joel Edmundson and skating in to put a backhand shot into the top corner.
"It's not really my game, but it's definitely something that goes in the back of your mind," Bortuzzo said. "It was just a rush of emotion."
Despite the unexpectedness of Bortuzzo as a scoring hero, Blues goalie Jordan Binnington noted the goal was "pretty smooth".
"Clearly he's got it in his arsenal," Binnington said.
Jaden Schwartz, Vince Dunn and Oskar Sundqvist scored, and Binnington made 24 saves for the Blues, who improved to 6-2 on the road in the playoffs and will try to get ahead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals when they host game three on Wednesday.
The winner of the series will face either the Boston Bruins or Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup finals.
Martin Jones made 21 saves for the Sharks, whose game-two jinx struck again. It was San Jose's third straight game two defeat after they had won the first game of a series in this post-season.
Couture tied the game 2-2 at 6:54 of the second after he took an outlet pass from Timo Meier and scored with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
Couture had scored unassisted on a shorthanded breakaway at 4:55 to get the Sharks to within 2-1.
"I thought Logan Couture was pretty good, a couple other guys," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "But it's tough to win this time of year if you don't have everybody going, and I thought they got contributions from everybody like we did (in game one)." - AFP