Jan 24, 2008 11:13 pm US/Pacific
Cheechoo's 2 Goals Lead Sharks Past Blues, 4-1
SAN JOSE (AP) ―
Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice in the third period and the San Jose Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 Thursday night to move into a tie atop the Pacific Division heading into the All-Star break.
Milan Michalek and Steve Bernier also scored for the Sharks, who won for the fifth time in seven home games to move to .500 in their own building. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 17 shots for his second straight win after a three-game losing streak.
Brad Boyes scored his team-leading 29th goal for the Blues, who are 0-5-2 in their past seven games. Manny Legace stopped 22 shots in his third game in five days, including the past two.
Joe Thornton had three assists to move into a first-place tie in the NHL with 45. Thornton has two goals and 13 assists in his last nine games.
The victory helped the Sharks tighten up the division race even further. San Jose and Dallas are tied with 61 points, one ahead of Anaheim.
Michalek gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 6:57 of the second period. He took a pass from Thornton, fanned on a shot and recovered to backhand the puck over Legace's stick. Matt Carle picked up a Blues turnover and dumped it down the ice to Thornton.
Michalek's no-look pass across the crease led to Cheechoo's first score, a power-play goal with 16:41 remaining to play.
Bernier scored his goal five minutes later from the top of the crease after taking a short pass from Patrick Marleau.
Boyes made it 3-1 off a faceoff but Cheechoo's second power-play goal put the game out of reach.
Notes:@ C Yan Stastny, who had his Blues' debut pushed back after his flight was delayed on Wednesday, was a healthy scratch. ... Legace played on consecutive days for just the second time this season. ... The Sharks first shot on goal was with 9:07 remaining in the first period. ... Thornton moved into sole possession of sixth place on the Sharks career points list with 265 in his 189th game in a San Jose jersey. ... Cheechoo recorded his 30th career multigoal game. ... The Blues' Paul Kariya had an assist and has 59 points in 53 games against the Sharks.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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