(Sports Network) - If the St. Louis Blues are to extend their longest home winning streak in franchise history, they'll have to knock off a San Jose Sharks team tonight that has won nine of its last 11 trips to the Scottrade Center.
That is what the Blues face this evening as they put their 11-game home winning streak -- which dates back to last season -- on the line. St. Louis has won all five of its games at Scottrade Center this year, including Saturday's 4-3 shootout triumph over Atlanta -- and hasn't lost in its own building since March 21.
Jay McClement notched his first career hat trick over the weekend before T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes scored in the shootout. The victory was St. Louis' fourth in a row overall, its longest run since winning five straight from Feb. 9- March 4.
Jaroslav Halak, who was coming off back-to-back shutouts, was tagged for three goals in the first period to end his shutout streak at 160 minutes and eight seconds, but rebounded to make 25 total saves in the victory.
"I just came out, I just tried to go puck by puck," Halak said. "I didn't worry about what happened in the first period. I was trying to keep us going the same way the whole game."
Defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo missed the game with a concussion and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.
The Blues will have to shake recent history tonight as they went 0-2-2 versus the Sharks last year, losing both games at home in regulation. San Jose has won 10 of the last 13 in the series overall.
The Sharks were last in action on Tuesday versus Minnesota and had a two-game win streak halted in a 1-0 loss. San Jose had scored 20 goals over its win streak, getting 20 points (8 goals, 12 assists) from its top line:Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau.
Antero Niittymaki made 15 saves for the Sharks, who had won four of five but were shut out for the second time in four games. San Jose out-shot Minnesota, 36-16, and the game's lone goal came on a 5-on-3 power play.
"(Playing against a 5-on-3) is not an ideal situation," said Niittymaki. "They got one goal. We need to take the positives out of this game and move on."
San Jose, which is 3-2-0 on the road, begins a five-game homestand on Saturday versus the Lightning.