The San Jose Sharks are involved in another back-and-forth brawl of a series, after they fell to the Blues in Friday night's Game 4, in St. Louis, by a score of 2-1.

Failing to win consecutive games once again, San Jose dug themselves an early hole, allowing the Blues to take a 2-0 lead in the first period. Blues left-winger Ivan Barbashev got things going early, knocking one past Sharks goalie Martin Jones just 35 seconds into the game. At the 17:44 mark, San Jose's Timo Meier was whistled for a hooking violation, putting the Blues on a power play. Just nine seconds later, St. Louis would capitalize on the Sharks' mishap, as Tyler Bozak increased the lead to two.

The Blues' rookie goaltender, Jordan Binnington, was sensational all game long, shutting the Sharks out through the first two periods. In fact, according to ESPN.com, Binnington set a franchise record with his 10th win of this postseason, saving 29 of 30 shots on-goal.

San Jose would, however, claw their way back into the contest, minutes into the third. Following an interference penalty on Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, Tomas Hertl got the Sharks on the board, with a power-play goal, assisted by Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. With just over 13 minutes left to play, the two teams were entrenched in a one-score game.

Down the stretch, Binnington would shake-off the Hertl goal, saving all seven of the Sharks' final shots on-goal. San Jose's Jones, for his part, was excellent through the game's final two periods, turning away 12-of-12 St. Louis shots on-goal in those 40 minutes.

This story is shaping up to look just like the last series, in which the Sharks traded wins with the Colorado Avalanche, before ultimately prevailing in Game 7. San Jose will look to get back into the win column, in Sunday's Game 5, back at the Shark Tank.