Observations From Blues' 5-4 Loss To Sharks

Man, that's a killer. The St. Louis Blues , who put themselves in the fight for the playoffs in the Western Conference once again with a 10-1-2 run in March, had one more big game to close out the month, a third matchup against the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

The first two games went to the Blues, winning each in overtime, including this past Thursday in St. Louis (2-1). A third seemed destined to go to extra time after the Blues fought back from a two-goal deficit with a pair of power-play goals.

But as has happened often this season, a late goal not only took a precious point away from the Blues but gave the Sharks two when former Blue Adam Gaudette scored with 21. 7 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Blues a stinging defeat, 5-4, at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The Blues (31-31-11), who had their four-game winning streak end, were in position to gain valuable ground on those teams above them, including the Nashville Predators , who currently hold the second wild card in the West by four point on the Blues, who had two games in hand on them, one of which was on Monday.

But instead, it was the Sharks (34-31-7) who gained the two points, moved two points ahead of the Blues and within two points of Nashville with two games in hand. It was in fact a crushing defeat for the Blues, who had been playing so well since the return from the Olympics at 11-2-2 coming into this game. Let's dive into the game observations: * Last goal simply shouldn't happen on multiple fronts -- It all starts with Robert Thomas losing a face-off to Zack Ostapchuk, of all people, a fourth-liner who played 11:58 in this game.