(Tuesday, February 13th)

Final Score: San Jose 6, St. Louis 5

St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo each had a goal and three assists and the San Jose Sharks held on to beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-5, at Scottrade Center.

Mike Grier and Patrick Marleau each added a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who have won three of their last four games. Vesa Toskala made 18 saves in the win.

Bill Guerin had his seventh career hat trick and added an assist and Keith Tkachuk and Christian Backman each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who have dropped three of their last four games.

"We showed some battle in us, but our objective is to win games and we didn't get it done," said St. Louis coach Andy Murray.

Manny Legace started in net, but was pulled after giving up four goals on 18 shots. Curtis Sanford finished the game between the pipes and stopped six of the eight shots he faced.

"We weren't too sharp in the first," said Legace. "If you don't come out on a good hockey club and play your 'A' game, they're going to bury you."

The Blues were trailing, 6-2, with less than half the game remaining, but Guerin completed the hat trick when his shot from the left circle beat Toskala on the glove side to make it a 6-3 game with 7:55 left in the second.

St. Louis then cut its deficit to 6-4 when Radek Dvorak let one fly from the right circle that Toskala initially stopped, but the rebound sat on the doorstep and Tkachuk banged it home just 6:22 into the final period.

With 5:57 remaining, Guerin blasted a shot from the right circle that Toskala again made the first save on, but he again failed to cover up the rebound and Backman scored from the edge of the left circle to make it a one-goal game.

The Blues were awarded a power play when Milan Michalek was called for tripping with 2:03 to play, but Toskala kept St. Louis from scoring as he made a right pad save on a Guerin one-timer in the final moments of the game.

"I kept saying to the team 'You've got to put these guys away, they're not gonna go away, they won't go away,'" said San Jose coach Ron Wilson. "All the games I've watched on TV when they have fallen behind by two or three, they've managed to come back and I thought they'd do the same [tonight]."

The Sharks jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Thornton won a right circle faceoff and got the puck to Ryane Clowe, who flicked it into the net from the left circle just 39 seconds in.

Matthew Carle made it a 2-0 game when he netted his sixth goal of the year, this one on the power play, 6:51 into the first.

Guerin netted his first goal of the game when, while on the power play, Backman sent a touch-pass from the slot boards to the left circle where Guerin one-timed it into the net to make it 2-1 with 6:45 left in the first.

San Jose, though, answered just 33 seconds later when on a 3-on-2 rush Marleau fired a pass from the left circle to the inside right circle where Grier redirected it into the net.

The Sharks upped their lead to 4-1 just 4:40 into the second period when Thornton scored a power-play goal and increased their lead to 5-1 just 1:33 later when Marleau netted his team-leading 29th goal of the season.

Guerin made it a 5-2 game at the 8:53 mark of the second when his shot from the left circle beat Toskala, but San Jose answered less than three minutes later when Cheechoo rifled a wrist shot from the low right side to give San Jose a 6-2 advantage.

"It was nice to get off to a start like that, but I think we sat back too much," said Cheechoo.

Game Notes

San Jose continues its season-high eight-game road trip at Nashville on Wednesday...St. Louis travels to Columbus for a game on Wednesday...It was the last time the teams faced each other this season, with San Jose victorious in three of four games...It was the first hat trick at home by a St. Louis player since March 6, 2003 when Scott Mellanby had four goals in a game against Phoenix...Thornton has 11 assists in the past six games...San Jose went 2-for-6 on the power play while St. Louis scored on one of its three power plays...Cheechoo has five goals in his past six games.

02/14 00:23:14 ET