Blues vs. Sharks: Game 4 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NHL Playoffs

The St. Louis Blues evened the Western Conference Final at 2-2 after picking up a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on Saturday.

The game was physical from start to finish, with the two teams combining for 15 penalties, and tensions boiled in the third period. Carl Gunnarsson and Brenden Dillon each received five-minute majors for fighting with two minutes, 11 seconds remaining after the Sharks defenseman singled out his counterpart on the Blues.

After a lengthy confrontation, Dillon came out on top, per the Sharks' Twitter account:

Alexander Steen and Tommy Wingels earned 10-minute misconducts as well for their involvement in the larger fracas. San Jose and St. Louis exchanged big hits all night, but the frustration for the home side was evident late in the game.

Little went right for the Sharks, who found themselves down 2-0 just 10:11 into the first period.

Troy Brouwer opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 6:14 mark. While Brouwer got all the glory, it was a team goal by the Blues. St. Louis utilized great positioning and pinpoint passing to slice the short-handed Sharks open and take the lead, via the NHL:

The Blues entered Saturday unbeaten (5-0) in this year's playoffs when Brouwer has scored, per Sportsnet Stats, so his tally foreshadowed good things for St. Louis. The goal also ended Martin Jones' scoreless streak. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the San Jose goaltender hadn't allowed an opponent to score in the last 156:59 of game action.

Jones' next shutout streak didn't last anywhere near as long, as Jori Lehtera doubled St. Louis' advantage a little after the halfway point of the first period. Jones initially made a fantastic save on Robert Fabbri, but the Sharks couldn't clear the puck. Lehtera was in the right place at the right time and took full advantage of his chance, via the NHL:

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun thought the Blues were playing with an urgency befitting of the situation:

Despite the Sharks' dreadful start, SB Nation's Fear the Fin chose to remain optimistic with the majority of the game left to play:

That optimism likely faded when Kyle Brodziak scored twice in the second period to give the Blues a 4-0 lead.

With Kevin Shattenkirk serving an interference penalty, the Blues caught the Sharks in a two-on-one advantage despite being down a man. Jaden Schwartz dumped the puck off to Brodziak, who beat Jones with a right-handed wrist shot 6:09 into the second period, as the NHL showed:

New England Patriots defensive end Chris Long, who spent eight years with the St. Louis Rams, didn't want to jinx anything after he missed the first part of the game:

"

I'm late to the TV tonight. I see how the blues are doing. I think I'm gonna make the ultimate sacrifice and leave the game off. No changes.

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) May 22, 2016"

Brodziak then knocked Jones out of the game with his second goal of the night at the 10:11 mark of the second period. Looking for anything to turn his team around, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer inserted James Reimer in at goaltender.

It was the first time Reimer had seen the ice in a playoff game since the 2013 postseason, when he allowed 21 goals in the first round as the Toronto Maple Leafs fell in seven games.

While Reimer's presence didn't inspire a ton of confidence among the Sharks faithful, San Jose stopped the bleeding over the remainder of the second period. A Joe Pavelski goal 1:05 into the third period also brought the SAP Center crowd to life. Joe Thornton's assist was arguably better than the goal itself, via the NHL:

Pavelski picked up his 10th goal of the playoffs, which is a Sharks record, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski wasn't writing off a Sharks comeback:

Brouwer stalled San Jose's momentum with a goal at the 3:55 mark of the period, restoring St. Louis' four-goal advantage. The Blues' Twitter account celebrated appropriately:

"

POWER-PLAY GOAL!!! Brouwer scores his second of the night. Blues lead 5-1. #stlblues #WeAllBleedBlue pic.twitter.com/dxbLhM6ghy

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 22, 2016"

The Sharks continued to throw everything into the attack, and the gamble paid off with Chris Tierney scoring at the 6:57 mark. But Jake Allen made a number of key saves to ensure San Jose couldn't get any closer. An empty-net goal by Alex Pietrangelo sealed the win for the Blues, and Melker Karlsson added a late goal for the Sharks to preserve some dignity.

It's easy to look at the Sharks' playoff record and ascribe too much importance to this game. San Jose's recent postseason runs are littered with disappointment after disappointment. Should the team exit in the conference final, many will likely look at Game 4 as the turning point in the series. Instead of taking a commanding 3-1 lead, the Sharks were embarrassed on their home ice.

However, San Jose has already won on the road and could do so again Monday in Game 5.

The Blues, meanwhile, will need to carry the urgency they showed in the first two periods Saturday into Game 5. They showed Jones isn't invincible between the pipes, but they can't afford to let him find the groove he had earlier in the series.

Plus, St. Louis won't want to head back to San Jose for Game 6 with its playoff life on the line.

Postgame Reaction

Wingels came to the defense of his goaltender after Jones let in four goals.

"We hung him out to dry tonight," Wingels said, per Josh Dubow of the Associated Press (via Yahoo Sports). "He made some big saves there and he gave us a chance. But we kept giving them more opportunities. Odd-man rushes and open guys around the net and that's certainly not on Jonesy at all. It's on every guy in front of him."

Blues coach Ken Hitchcock benched Brian Elliott in favor of Allen ahead of Game 4, and after the win, he explained his reasoning behind the decision.

"We knew we needed somebody to really help us play better defense and we played with more passion in front of him in our own zone because I made the goalie change," Hitchcock said, per the Bay Area News Group.

"I'm sure Hitch will tell you he made all kinds of great adjustments and every one of them worked," DeBoer said, referencing the Blues' goalie change. "Hats off to him."

Hitchcock also reshuffled his forward lines, which Steen credited for having a role in the victory.

"I think so," he said, per Jeremy Rutherford and Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I think that was part of our game plan for tonight to change it up a little bit ... structure our game a little differently and we did and I thought we had a lot of success doing that."