(Photo credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images)

The San Jose Sharks ride into Thursday's road meeting with the St. Louis Blues mired in an untimely five-game losing skid.

After being firmly entrenched in the playoff conversation for most of the 2025-26 season, the Sharks (32-31-6, 70 points) have slowly witnessed their hopes for postseason hockey slip away during their recent winless stretch.

San Jose fell to seven points behind the Nashville Predators for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference after losing a crucial road battle 6-3 to those same Predators on Tuesday night.

'We didn't show up,' Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic admitted after making just 13 saves in the loss. 'We didn't come ready to play. And that's what happens. You can't take a shift off, two shifts off, let alone a whole period in this league. Especially against a team that's playing pretty well like them. For us, we're fighting for points. We're fighting for our lives right now. We didn't show up.'

Trailing 5-1 after the opening 20 minutes, the Sharks were unable to mount any sort of comeback despite a two-goal performance from Will Smith.

'Just giving up too many chances,' Smith said of his squad's first-period effort. 'It's hard to come back in certain games when you're down by that many goals.'

Sitting just four points short of reaching the 100-point plateau for the first time in his young career, Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini was held off the scoresheet for the third time over his past four outings.

Once considered out for the count, the Blues' recent revival has brought them back from the grave with a sliver of hope of reaching the postseason.

Goaltending has helped right the ship for the Blues of late and that trend continued in Tuesday's 3-0 blanking of the visiting Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

St. Louis (29-30-11, 69 points) is now 8-1-2 over its previous 11 outings, while averaging just 1.63 goals against over that stretch to get itself back within eight points of the Predators for the final wild-card spot.

Joel Hofer, who is 6-0-2 over his past eight starts, made 21 saves en route to his sixth shutout of the season, the second-highest mark in the NHL.

'We're obviously battling hard,' Hofer said of his team's recent success. 'We're sticking up for one another. We're staying together, there's obviously no quitting here. ... We still believe in here, and I still think we have a chance.'

Jimmy Snuggerud opened the scoring against the Capitals early in the second period, recording his 12th point over his past nine games (six goals, six assists).

Jordan Kyrou and Otto Stenberg also found the back of the net for St. Louis, who seemingly avoided disaster as star forward Robert Thomas was helped off the ice with 11:35 remaining in the contest after being tackled to the ice by Capitals forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Dubois was assessed a major and match penalty following the encounter, but Blues coach Jim Montgomery said that Thomas was fine following the game.

'He passed the protocol,' Montgomery said. 'He's healthy.'

The Blues have come out on top in three of the past four clashes with the Sharks, most recently earning a 3-2 overtime victory earlier this month thanks to a two-goal performance from Thomas, including the game winner.

--Field Level Media