The Yaroslav Askarov era has started in San Jose. The much heralded goaltending prospect made his Sharks debut as San Jose wrapped up a quick 2-game road trip in St Louis on Thursday night. Askarov made 29 saves but the game was book-ended with a pair of pucks crossing the Sharks goal line, one in regulation and one in the shootout. San Jose would fall 3-2 in the shootout. Alexander Wennberg scored a pair of goals, including one with 8.8 seconds left in regulation to get the game to the shootout.

The Askarov era didn't quite start as auspiciously as the sharks had hoped. The Sharks goaltender tried to cycle a puck around the end boards off the opening faceoff. That puck was intercepted by Radek Faksa who promptly threw it to the from of the net where Nathan Walker redirected it home for a goal 11 seconds into the game.

The Sharks netminder would settle down the remainder of the period even though he saw a steady stream of pucks. The youngster would stop the next 14 shots he faced to close ou the frame.

An interference penalty to Zack Bolduc at 6:02 was followed by an interference penalty to Faksa 79 seconds later setup a brief 2-man advantage for the Sharks. St Louis killed off the Bolduc infraction but Wennberg pushed a puck past Jordan Binnington at 8:23 to tie the game up at 1-1.

Klim Kostin just missed on a prime chance 6 minutes into the 2nd period when he slipped past a defender and took a feed from Wennberg in front of the Blues net. Justin Faulk swung his stick back toward his goal as a last ditch effort to disrupt the scoring chance, which he accomplished by clipping Kostin's stick.

Both teams had problems establishing any flow in the period until Mathieu Joseph threw the puck at the front of the net at 11:47. Jordan Kyrou was parked at the top of the crease and managed to get a stick on the puck, deflecting it between Askarov's pads for this 6th goal of the season. Mikael Granlund was defending right along side Kyrou, but he failed to tie up the Blue's stick.

San Jose just couldn't generate any pressure on Binnington in the middle period. They would only put 6 shots on the Blues goaltender in the period, nothing even remotely close to challenging the opposition.

They would pick up the pace in the final frame, but still could not solve Binnington. Both teams traded 9 shots apiece in that 3rd period, but the majority of the period was played in the Blues end.

Ryan Warsofsky pulled Askarov with 2:48 to play. The Blues had a golden opportunity to put the game away when they found themselves with blue shirts in the Sharks zone wit the puck, but a Pavel Buchnevich shot attempt was blocked by Macklin Celebrini.

That would turn out to be crucial when Wennberg tied the game with 8.8 to play in regulation. The Sharks forward stick handled the puck inside the right circle, eyeing the Blues goal. He would take a step to his left off the dot and whipped a shot that beat Binnington just inside the left post.

In the overtime, the Sharks had the better chances and controlled the puck for the majority of the extra 5 minute period. Celebrini came closest to ending things by ringing a shot off the crossbar.

In the shootout, Granlund, Celebrini and William Eklund all missed their chances. Jake Neighbors converted a shot in the 3rd round to beat the Sharks for the second time this season following a regulation impasse.

Game Notes:

* The Sharks tried to turn the tables on St Louis, who burst the sharks bubble on opening night by overcoming a 4-1 deficit in the 3rd period before beating San Jose in overtime. The Sharks bagged the late equalizer on Thursday but couldn't return the favor.

* With the primary assist on the Alex Wennberg goal, Mikael Granlund extends his point scoring streak to 4 games (2 goals, 4 assists).

* Macklin Celebrini his 3rd career multi-point game with 2 assists. He had a goal and an assist on opening night against St Louis, and a 2-goal game against Minnesota on November 7th.

* Defenseman Jake Walkman led the Sharks with 5 shots on goal. San Jose recorded 24 shots in the game. St Louis recoded 31 shots.

* Yaraslov Askarov's final stat line for his Sharks debut: 29 saves on 31 shots. 62:30 of ice time for a 1.92 goals against average and a .935 save percentage.

* All attention now turns to the Joe Thornton number retirement, which takes place on Saturday before the Sharks play the Buffalo Sabres.