William Eklund completed his hat trick with 1:04 left in overtime and the host San Jose Sharks defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Saturday.
Eklund kept the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Joel Hofer for the game winner.
It was a costly missed point for the Blues, who have lost three of their last four games and are seven points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn scored for St. Louis (40-32-5, 85 points). Robert Thomas had two assists and Hofer made 22 saves.
Devin Cooley made 34 saves for the Sharks (18-50-8, 44 points), who swept the three-game season series from the Blues.
San Jose took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 14:42. Mikael Granlund, in the left circle, fed Henry Thrun at the point and he passed to Eklund, who scored on a one-timer from the right circle.
Granlund increased his point streak to seven games (two goals, six assists).
Eklund made it 2-0 at 16:59. Hofer made a save on Thomas Bordeleau in front during a power play, but Eklund scored on the rebound for his 14th goal of the season.
Kyrou pulled the Blues within 2-1 at 3:21 of the third period, taking a pass in the left circle from Pavel Buchnevich, moving into the slot and scoring on a wrist shot through traffic on a power play.
With Hofer pulled for the extra attacker, Schenn tied it with 2:29 remaining in the third period, scoring from in front of the crease off a pass from Thomas behind the net.
San Jose forward Collin Graf, signed as a free agent on Thursday, played 13:36 and had one shot on goal in his NHL debut. The 21-year-old led Quinnipiac University in scoring with 49 points and 22 goals and was second on the club with 27 assists in the 2023-24 season and was named a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
–Field Level Media
