Joe Thornton ejected in Sharks' shutout loss to Blues

SAN JOSE — Colton Parayko had a goal and an assist and backup Carter Hutton earned his fifth career shutout in the St. Louis Blues' 4-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

Parayko opened the scoring with a power-play goal and added an assist on David Perron's score to help the Blues bounce back from lopsided losses to Boston and Los Angeles earlier this week. Jori Lehtera also scored and Alex Steen had an empty-net goal for St. Louis.

Hutton, who replaced starter Jake Allen in the past two games, made 23 saves to earn the win.

Martin Jones made 22 saves for San Jose and Joe Thornton got ejected for a spearing penalty in the second period as the Sharks dropped their second straight to fall four points behind first-place Anaheim in the Pacific Division.

After a scoreless first period with only a handful of good scoring chances, including Chris Tierney hitting a post early for San Jose, the game opened up in the second.

The Sharks got the first opportunity when Steen and Alex Pietrangelo were called for slashes 11 seconds apart. San Jose couldn't cash in the two-man advantage with Joe Pavelski missing an open net and then committing an interference penalty.

That eventually gave the Blues their first power-play chance and they took advantage when Parayko's point shot deflected off defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and into the net for a 1-0 lead. The Sharks challenged the goal, claiming it came following an offside entry, but the replay was inconclusive and the call stood.

St. Louis added to the lead when Parayko's point shot hit defenseman Brenden Dillon's skate and Parron got to the loose puck and jammed it in between Jones' left skate and the post for a 2-0 lead.

The frustration for the Sharks boiled over with Thornton getting a game misconduct for a major spearing penalty against Paul Stastny. The Blues could not capitalize on the five-minute penalty as they got called for two minors, negating much of their power-play time.

Lehtera added a goal midway through the third on a deflection of Pietrangelo's shot to give the Blues some insurance.

NOTES: Thornton's last game misconduct also came against the Blues when he was called for an illegal hit to the head of Perron on Nov. 4, 2010. ... The Sharks had their top six defensemen healthy with David Schlemko returning after missing five games with an upper-body injury and Paul Martin back after missing one game with a lower-body injury. ... Blues F Dmitrij Jaskin replaced Scottie Upshall in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past three games.

UP NEXT

Blues: Visit Anaheim on Sunday.

Sharks: Host Winnipeg on Monday.