ST. LOUIS BLUES NOTES:
CURRENT INJURIES
Jake Neighbours – Upper-Body (Will be re-evaluated in 5 weeks; announced on Feb. 20)
2022-23 Total Man Games Lost: 241
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
February
27 – Recalled forward Nikita Alexandrov from the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
26 – Traded forward Ivan Barbashev to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for prospect Zachary Dean
25 – Acquired forward Kasperi Kapanen from Pittsburgh with a Waiver Claim; Assigned forward Nikita Alexandrov to the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
23 – Activated forward Brandon Saad from IR
23 – Assigned forward Matthew Highmore to the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
20 – Placed forward Jake Neighbours on IR; Activated defenseman Marco Scandella and Scott Perunovich from IR; Assigned Perunovich to the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
BLUES VS. SHARKS
- This will be the 2nd of 3 matchups between the Blues and Sharks this season
- The Blues will host the Sharks next Thursday, March 9, to finish their season series
- The Blues won the 1st matchup of the season with the Sharks, 5-3 back on Nov. 10 in St. Louis
- The Blues went 3-0-0 against the Sharks last season (2-0-0 away; 1-0-0 at home)
- The Blues have won 6 straight games against San Jose, outscoring the Sharks 23-11 in those 6 games
- The Blues have earned points in 8 straight games against the Sharks (7-0-1)
- The Blues have won 4 straight games in San Jose and have earned points in their last 8 trips to San Jose (6-0-2)
- The Blues have not allowed a power play goal to the Sharks in 5 of their last 6 matchups, going 8 for 9 (88.9%) on the penalty kill over those 6 games
- The Blues have scored a power play goal in 3 straight games against the Sharks, going 3 for 11 (27.3%) on the power play over those 3 games
- Jordan Binnington’s next appearance will be the 210th game played of his career, moving him ahead of Greg Millen for 5th on the Blues all-time franchise list
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
3/4 – at Los Angeles
3/7 – at Arizona
3/9 – vs. San Jose
3/11 – at Columbus
3/12 – vs. Vegas
A LOOK AHEAD
- The Blues will embark on a 3-game road trip to start the month of March (Thursday in San Jose /Saturday in Los Angeles / Tuesday in Arizona)
- The Blues will play 15 games in March (9 away; 6 home)
- 11 of the Blues’ 15 games in March will come against Central Division opponents (3 against the Central)
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST GAME:
Game 61 – 2/28 – SJS 1 vs MTL 3…Jacob MacDonald (1g, 0a) netted his first goal as a Shark and Kaapo Kahkonen stopped the first 27 shots he faced, but a three-goal third period for the visiting Montreal Canadiens proved to be the difference in Tuesday’s tilt. With his goal, MacDonald has his first point streak as a Shark, finding the score sheet in consecutive games (1g, 1a). Forwards Andreas Johnsson (0g, 0a) and Fabian Zetterlund (0g, 0a), acquired in a trade with New Jersey, made their respective San Jose debuts and defenseman Radim Simek (0g, 0a) appeared in a game for the first time since being injured on December 31 at Dallas.
SJ Goals: MacDonald (1)
SF: 39
SA: 32
SJ PP: 0/2
SJ PK: 3/3
W: Allen
L: Kahkonen
RECENT SHARKS TRANSACTIONS
3/1 Acquired F Vladislav Namestnikov from Tampa Bay (50% retained) in exchange for F Mikey Eyssimont
2/26 Assigned D Nikita Ohotiuk to the San Jose Barracuda
2/26 Assigned F Martin Kaut to the San Jose Barracuda
2/26 Acquired a 2023 first-round selection (top two protected), a conditional 2024 first-round selection (dependent on New Jersey making either the 2023 Conference Finals [Meier must play in 50% of New Jersey’s playoff games] or 2024 Conference Finals), a 2024 seventh-round selection, F Andreas Johnsson, D Shakir Mukhamadullin, D Nikita Okhotiuk and F Fabian Zetterlund from New Jersey in exchange for F Timo Meier (50% retained), D Scott Harrington, D Santeri Hatakka, F Timur Ibragimov, G Zach Emond and a 2024 fifth-round selection (Colorado’s)
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: ST. LOUIS BLUES
The St. Louis Blues begin a three-game road trip Thursday against San Jose, bringing a six-game losing skid with them as they head west. It’s the second meeting of the season between the Sharks and Blues, with St. Louis taking the first matchup, 5-3 in St. Louis on Nov. 10. The teams will have one contest remaining, next Thursday in Missouri. St. Louis has been active on the trade market with Ivan Barbashev, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari and Nikko Mikkola all departing since February 9.
PRIME PENALTY KILL…After a 3-for-3 performance shorthanded against Montreal on Feb. 28, the Sharks boast the NHL’s third-best penalty kill at 83.9-percent on the year. San Jose has operated at a 90.9-percent clip since the All-Star break, fifth-best in the league. The Sharks have finished top-two in the NHL on the PK in two of the past three years, including second (85.2%) in 2021-22 and first (85.7%) in 2019-20.
