Blues slip past Sharks on Robert Thomas’ OT goal

Robert Thomas scored his second goal of the night in overtime, leading the visiting St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday.

Jimmy Snuggerud collected one goal and one assist and Dylan Holloway posted three assists for the Blues, who responded to seeing two key players traded away earlier in the day by winning a third straight game.

St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington made 23 saves.

Macklin Celebrini and Kiefer Sherwood tallied for the Sharks, who saw their three-game winning streak end but still pulled themselves two points back of the Seattle Kraken for the Western Conference's second wild-card position. San Jose also has one game in hand.

Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who signed a two-year, $6 million contract extension earlier in the day, stopped 11 shots.

Prior to the trade deadline on Friday, the Blues dealt away captain Brayden Schenn to the New York Islanders and defenseman Justin Faulk to the Detroit Red Wings. Neither forward Jonathan Drouin, acquired from the Islanders, and defenseman Justin Holl, who came in the Detroit trade, played.

The Blues reacted by winning despite twice surrendering leads to the up-and-coming Sharks.

Thomas, who had been the subject of plenty of trade rumors, netted the winner 54 seconds into overtime. He was credited with the goal when Philip Broberg's shot rang off the crossbar and bounced off Thomas' skates and into the net to finish a back-and-forth affair.

Snuggerud opened the scoring at 6:55 of the first period. He fired a shot from the left faceoff dot through traffic, finding the right spot between Nedeljkovic's legs.

Celebrini tied the clash with his team-leading 31st of the season, burying a top-corner wrist shot for a power-play goal at 14:31 of the second period.

Thomas restored St. Louis' lead three minutes later, burying a one-timer from the slot for his third goal in as many games since returning to action after missing 13 games due to injury and a leave of absence.

Sherwood drew the Sharks even again at 13:26 of the third period, converting a one-timer from the right faceoff dot for his 19th goal of the season, which ties his career high.

Prior to the deadline, the Sharks' lone deal was to move defenseman Timothy Liljegren to the Vegas Golden Knights for a draft pick.