Sharks’ special teams struggle in Game 4

“Their special teams were better than ours … and that’s what playoff hockey is,” Sharks center Joe Thornton said after San Jose’s 6-3 loss to St. Louis in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

If their power play and penalty kill are better than ours, that team wins.

[...] the Sharks quieted their own fans at the SAP Center when they went 0-for-5 on power plays, and got only two shots in the 8:40 when they had a man advantage.

Worse, San Jose allowed a shorthanded goal in the second period, digging a 3-0 hole on its way to seeing the series being evened 2-2.

The Blues scored for the first time in three games on a power play, striking 6:14 into the game on a pass from behind the net from Robby Fabbri to Troy Brouwer, whose one-timer beat goalie Martin Jones.

The Sharks were down 2-0 when their power play broke down and Kyle Brodziak and Jaden Schwartz got out on a 2-on-1 break.



Besides the short-handed goal, the Blues were 2-for-4 on the power play.

Brouwer scored again on the power play, making it 5-1, at 3:55 of the third period.