If it seemed like the Sharks played with a spark for most of Thursday's game against the St. Louis Blues, that's because Bob Boughner lit a fire under them earlier in the day.
During NBC Sports California's broadcast, it was noted that the Sharks' coach gave his players "a tongue lashing" during their morning skate in St. Louis.
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Whatever Boughner said, it worked for over 59 minutes as the Sharks took a one-goal lead into the final minute. But at 19:20 in the third, the Blues' Brayden Schenn tied the game and forced overtime. In the extra five-minute frame, David Perron scored at 4:00 to give the Blues a 3-2 victory.
With the OT loss, the Sharks drop to 6-7-2 on the season. They'll get another shot at the Blues (10-5-2) on Saturday night.
After Thursday's OT loss, Boughner was asked about what happened during the team's morning skate.
"I just think we weren't sharp early in practice," Boughner told reporters on a Zoom conference call. "We were only out there for 15-20 minutes, but just a sort of little wake-up call, let's get going kind of thing. There's no real story behind it other than just a little wake-up call this morning when guys were ... travel across the country, got in late last night and I just didn't think we had enough energy, and just a little wake-up call. That's all."
San Jose Sharks
Goalie Martin Jones, who stopped 42 of the 45 shots he faced Thursday, provided even less when asked about the "wake-up call."
"Nothing there," Jones told reporters. "Coaches give us a kick in the butt all the time. Nothing."
Whether it was a wake-up call, a kick in the butt or nothing, the Sharks played well for a majority of the game against the top team in the West Division.
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Late goals in regulation and overtime by the Blues snatched victory away from the Sharks, but if Boughner's fiery morning speech gets San Jose going, then it was well worth it.