SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Brian Elliott stayed calm and cool in his first start. He also got a little lucky.

Elliott stopped 34 of 36 shots, including a point-blank shot in the third period, and Kent Huskins and Alexander Steen scored in the third period to lift the St. Louis Blues past the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Saturday night.

Advertisement

``Credit the guys for getting back on track,' Blues coach Davis Payne said. ``San Jose got us way back on our heels in the second period. Fortunately, our goalie made some big saves.'

Matt D'Agostini and David Backes also scored for the Blues, who ended a three-game winless streak to the Sharks by winning their first game here in nearly two years.

``We expected to give up a few more shots in this building and against that team,' Elliott said. ``We were ready for that and the guys did a good job.'

Brent Burns and Michal Handzus scored for the Sharks, who lost their second game in as many nights.

``We didn't make a lot of mistakes,' Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. ``But we made enough for them to score.'

Thomas Greiss had 16 saves for San Jose.

Elliott turned back the Sharks despite being under pressure most of the night. The biggest of his 13 saves in the final period was stopping Dan Boyle's shot during a power play.

``The puck kind of squirted loose and he had a clear shot,' Elliott said. ``It was a desperation play to get over and get anything in front of it. It happened to go into my glove and I'm happy for that. Those are the fun saves to make.'

Greiss, who played in San Jose's loss to Anaheim on Friday night, was back in the net although Antti Niemi said he felt good enough to play.

``The puck seemed to be bouncing off the ice pretty badly,' Boyle said. ``You have to keep it simple, especially on bad ice. We started to do that in the second period. We just need to simply things and keep playing hard.'

D'Agostini picked off a pass in front of the Sharks net at 2:37 of the first period and beat Greiss to give the Blues the early edge.

Handzus tied the game with a power-play goal in the second period, picking up Ryane Clowe's rebound and getting it past Elliott.

Burns' shot on the net deflected off a defenseman and floated past Elliott to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead in the second period.

Huskins picked up a loose puck along the boards and fired an unassisted goal past Greiss into the upper left corner to tie the score at 4:33 of the third.

``I was just trying to get it to the net,' Huskins said. ``It just kind of found its way through.'

A nifty give-and-go between Steen and Kevin Shattenkirk resulted in the go-ahead goal at 9:18.

Backes added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Notes: Huskins scored his first goal against the Sharks in 16 career games. ... Clowe has three points in his first three games. ... Jim Vandermeer made his Sharks debut. ... Blues F Andy McDonald missed the game.