Niklas Sundstrom and Scott Thornton celebrate the Sharks' game-winning goal.(AP)

It's the same trick San Jose pulled last year, when the Sharks lost Game 1 in St. Louis before winning three straight and beating the Presidents' Trophy winners in seven games.

"I think we know it's a long series," Thornton said. "It's probably going to be a seven-game battle and tonight we just wanted to keep our composure, play a little tighter defense and keep out of the penalty box."

Game 3 is Monday in San Jose, and the Blues aren't interested in making comparisons to 2000.

"That's last year," Blues captain Chris Pronger said. "This is a new team and we have new players. If you worry about last year, you're out of luck."

Thornton, assisted by Vincent Damphousse and Niklas Sundstrom, got behind the St. Louis defense for a clean break and beat Blues goalie Roman Turek with a wrist shot. The breakaway was the first decent scoring chance for San Jose, which managed just three shots in the first period and finished with 19.

"You obviously don't want to try and shut a team out every night," Thornton said.

"We'd like to score more than one goal a game."

It was Damphousse's third game since returning to the San Jose lineup after missing almost three months with a shoulder injury. Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said Damphousse is getting stronger with every shift, and his assist Saturday demonstrated how much the Sharks rely on their depth.

"Hopefully, he'll get stronger as the series goes on," Sutter said. "If we have to shorten our bench very much, we're going to have a hard time."

Turek, who stopped 21 shots and allowed only a late goal in Game 1, again played well. He has allowed just three goals in his last four starts.

"You cannot say one mistake beat you," Turek said. "It's just the way it unfolded. In the playoffs, it doesn't matter if you score one goal or four. All that matters is winning."

Thornton, who made his debut with San Jose against St. Louis in October, had 19 goals and 17 assists in the regular season -- both career highs.

Nabokov, who turned away Keith Tkachuk's shot on a 2-on-1 break in the first period, made 28 saves -- including 13 in the third.

"He's won so many games for us all season long," Thornton said. "The kid, he's young and he's a rookie, but he's got such great poise in the net. Our team is very confident in front of him right now."

Teemu Selanne, the Sharks' big late-season acquisition, again was not a factor. Selanne, who closed the season with 13 points in 12 games for San Jose, didn't have a shot in Game 2, after just one shot in 17 shifts in the opener.

"Both teams played a pretty tight game defensively and did not give me many chances," Selanne said. "But the chances you get you have to take advantage of. We know it's not going to be easy, but we know as a group that we can beat these guys."

Tkachuk, who in 10 previous seasons never has made it past the first round of the playoffs, had five shots for the Blues.

Notes

• Sharks defenseman Gary Suter, who left Game 1 after a hard check into the glass by Scott Mellanby, was a scratched. He was replaced in the lineup by second-year player Brad Stuart.
• San Jose captain Owen Nolan, who led the Sharks with eight points in last year's playoff series against the Blues, has yet to score in the current series.
• The Blues are now 9-20 overall in Game 2s after winning the first game of a playoff series, and are 10-23 in playoff series when losing the second game.