Xbox360 » The 24-year-old Hertl

ST. LOUIS (AP) It had been a year and two days since Patrik Berglund turned in a multi-goal game for the St. Louis Blues. He delivered Friday night when his team really needed it.Berglund scored twice and the surging Blues overcame a season-ending injury to defenseman Carl Gunnarsson Custom New York Islanders Jerseys , beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 for their fourth consecutive victory.The Blues (41-28-5) moved within a point of idle Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Both teams have played 74 games.”It feels really good to score goals always, but at this time of year it doesn’t matter who scores, we just need all the points that we can get here to get into the playoffs,” Berglund said.St. Louis played most of the game with just five defensemen after Gunnarsson exited in the first period. He will miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.Vladimir Tarasenko and Dmitrij Jaskin also scored for St. Louis. Jake Allen made 19 saves in his eighth straight start as the Blues won for the sixth time in seven games.Sam Gagner scored for Vancouver, which has lost eight of nine. Anders Nilsson stopped 21 shots.The Blues swept the season series and have won their last five games against the Canucks.Tarasenko extended the lead to 3-1 just 14 seconds into the third period, slipping Jaden Schwartz’s pass between Nilsson’s legs. Tarasenko missed the previous two games with an upper-body injury.”Of course, it’s easier to play when it’s 3-1, but you’ve still got like 19 minutes to play and I think we played a really good third period,” Tarasenko said.Jaskin’s sixth goal of the season with 2:29 left sealed it for St. Louis.Berglund gave the Blues a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the game, beating Nilsson with a backhand over his right shoulder. It was Berglund’s second goal in three games.”Great play (by Alex Pietrangelo),” Berglund said. ”I came in full speed and I figured I’d get it on the net real quick and he wasn’t ready, so it was a good start.”Allen made the early goal stand up as the Blues were outshot 12-4 in the first period. Allen made four saves during a 45-second stretch of sustained pressure midway through the period as St. Louis failed to register a shot on goal for the final 13:09 of the opening frame.Berglund made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal at 4:46 of the second www.officialhockeyrangersshop.com , cashing in on a strong effort by Kyle Brodziak to chip the puck out and spring Berglund on an odd-man rush. It was just the fifth short-handed goal this season for St. Louis and the ninth allowed by Vancouver.”I knew right away that there was going to be two of us,” Brodziak said. ”He (Berglund) was coming pretty close behind me just from the way that play happened at our blue line. I was just hoping I was going to be able to get there. I didn’t have a whole lot of gas left in the tank.”Gagner snapped a 25-game goal drought, firing in a one-timer off a pass from Henrik Sedin with 5:13 left in the second to cut the Canucks’ deficit to 2-1. It was the 150th goal of his career.”We battled hard tonight,” Gagner said. ”We just couldn’t find a way to generate enough the second half of the game and it’s one of those things, you learn from it and move on.”NOTES: Gunnarsson was plus-15 this season. He had five goals and four assists. … Canucks forward Daniel Sedin played in his 1,299th career game, and his assist on Gagner’s goal gave him 50 points for the 11th time. … Blues D Robert Bortuzzo was fined $3,091.40, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, for a cross-checking penalty on Bruins forward Jordan Szwarz in the first period Wednesday.UP NEXTCanucks: At the Dallas Stars on Sunday.Blues: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.— SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Joe Thornton talked to several teams last summer when he made his first trip to the free-agent market before ultimately deciding to return to San Jose on a one-year deal.This time there was never any doubt.”Obviously there were some teams calling, but I told my agent/brother let’s keep it quiet this year New York Rangers T-Shirts Authentic , I want to go back to San Jose,” Thornton said Monday. ”Obviously talking to you guys at the end of the year that’s no secret. I feel this team is just getting better and better. … Our window is always open it seems in San Jose, and it’s a good feeling.”Thornton signed a one-year, $5 million contract on his 39th birthday, taking a $3 million pay cut from the previous year to help make sure the Sharks have the room to add other top players. Thornton had been willing to take even less had John Tavares decided to take San Jose’s offer instead of signing a $77 million, seven-year deal with Toronto on Sunday.But Thornton still believes strongly in the group that general manager Doug Wilson, coach Peter DeBoer and owner Hasso Plattner have put together and feels the pieces are in place for that elusive Stanley Cup run.”It would have been nice to get Johnny, but I think if you look at our team still, Doug and Hasso and Pete, they’ve allowed us to compete every year, and I think there’s no difference again this year,” Thornton said. ”We’re going to compete for a Cup. But yeah New York Rangers Hoodies Authentic , I was going to be flexible and will always try to help out the franchise in that way.”The Sharks also locked up restricted free agent forward Tomas Hertl with a $22.5 million, four-year deal on Monday that buys out the first two years of unrestricted free agency.Hertl took on a bigger role last season after Thornton went down with a season-ending right knee injury Jan. 23. Thornton had torn the ACL and MCL in his left knee the previous season but said he’s ahead of where he was at this point last summer and expects to be 100 percent at the start of training camp.Thornton started slowly last season while recovering from knee surgery but was back near his top form by the end of November. He had 11 goals and 15 assists in his final 28 games before the injury.”I’ve never seen anybody train like this. You look at his birth certificate and it says a number there. But he’s childlike when it comes for his passion and love for the game,” Wilson said. ”He’s had so much time now and was so close to playing that I t6hink he’ll come back way ahead of where he was last year.”Thornton has been the face of the franchise in San Jose since arriving in 2005, helping the team reach three Western Conference finals and one trip the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.He ranks 12th in NHL history with 1,030 assists and is 16th with 1,427 points. With seven more games, Thornton will become the 19th player to reach the 1,500-game mark for a career.The 24-year-old Hertl is just coming into his own after being slowed by knee injuries early in his career. He had a career-high 22 goals to go along with 44 assists this past season and was strong on both ends of the ice.Hertl was even better come playoff time with six goals and three assists in 10 games. He also won 57.7 percent of his faceoffs. The Sharks are counting on more of that kind of play in the future.”I just think his best hockey is ahead of him,” Wilson said. ”He truly wants to be a great player. Watching him in the playoffs this year, I think everybody saw him take that step that not only we expected but he expected of himself.”The Sharks still have one more restricted free agent to sign in forward Chris Tierney.—AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this story—