Sharks hand 4-1 home loss to Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Rookie Logan Couture scored twice to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a goal and an assist, Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski each added two assists and Devin Setoguchi scored his third goal in two games for the Sharks, who finished a stretch of 10 road games in their last 13 overall.

Antero Niittymaki had 21 saves to improve to 11-3-3 this season.

Couture scored off a pair of deflections, the first with 9 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. Couture, parked in the slot, redirected Boyle's shot from the left point past Jaroslav Halak, who stopped 30 shots in the loss.

Couture, who is tied with Rick Nash for fifth in the league with 17 goals, had a puck carom off his body from the front of the net off another shot by Boyle that gave San Jose a 3-0 lead 8:21 into the second period.

Vlasic's second of the season with 1:42 left in the first period gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead, a shot from the left boards that seemed to handcuff Halak.

The first period, although only 10 shots were taken between the two teams, featured three fighting majors.

Backes cut the Sharks lead to 3-1 when he converted on a penalty shot 10:44 into the second.

Noteworthy

* Blues winger David Perron (concussion) missed his 21st game, with his last game coming against the Sharks on Nov. 4.

* Blues defenseman Erik Johnson (knee) returned to the lineup after missing one game. To make room for Johnson, the Blues optioned Nikita Nikitin to Peoria, Ill. of the AHL.

D Alex Pietrangelo (upper-body) sat out his third consecutive game.