The Sharks are trying to advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time. Which has happened never.
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This is starting to get scary for the Sharks.
The Sharks have never been this close before, but they’ve looked like a team on a mission ever since the puck dropped in their opening round series against their rivals from Los Angeles last month.
It’s amusing to think back on it, but this time previous year, the notion of the Sharks making their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history with Thornton leading the way would have received a scoff. Which means that your best Pavelski must be your best Pavelski. “If we extend this game as a one-goal game long into the night, I like our chances”.
Hold your breath. But try to enjoy it. For fans, this will definitely constitute three periods (or more) of apprehension and nerves.
Brouwer then gave the Blues the lead as he swatted the puck out of midair on a rebound from a Peter Stastny shot. Now, St. Louis has everything banking on their next performance.
But when a hustling Tomas Hertl drew a hooking penalty, the Sharks earned a power play.
A dedication to his craft is something that Joe Pavelski has been working on from a young age. It’s been eight games and 200 shifts without this guy scoring a goal (when there’s a goalie in net).
Pavelski was left alone in the slot on a power play at 18:33 of the second and beat Jake Allen to tie it at 3-3. I know that’s a amusing thing to say, but he’s looking for the home run.
“He’s one of the best in the league in front of the net and he has been for the last five or six years”, Allen said. He spends time at each practice session working on the skill, with Burns or another defenseman.
“He’s practiced that for years”, Thornton said.
“But in order to play the way he plays – he’s very athletic in the net, he’s acrobatic at times – you need to have a certain level of energy to play that way. It’s lovely to watch”.
Jones came up big with back-to-back stops on Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Tarasenko in a 15-second span late in the third period. It meant that the Blues visibly sagged. End of period, the game is on the line, I can play him anywhere.
The Shark players have done this so impressively, all through this six-week skate across nails to reach this point. They didn’t make blind passes. This will be the first time in these playoffs when they’ll hit the ice as the only club fighting for survival. Elliott had just 31 saves on 37 shots in Games 2 and 3 after getting the same amount of saves in St. Louis’s win in Game 1.
That is a testament the Sharks commitment to team defense and sacrificing the body, but it also speaks volumes about Jones. Hitchcock vowed, in so many words, that the Blues would not allow the Sharks to do the same thing. “How close we both are to get to where we want to be. We stay with it and feed off those older guys”. “We thought if we gave an honest effort, we’d be okay”.
All those past playoff disappointments that have seemed to define the career of players like Marleau and Joe Thornton could be put to the side temporarily with one more San Jose win tonight.
BLUES: The Blues are going back to goaltender Brian Elliott for Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against the San Jose Sharks. We all know what that means. As you experience this as a younger player, you’re going to have to learn to fight through a lot if you expect to score. “When the pressure does get up, you have to dig in and do your best”.
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“To me, it’s execution and your best players just have to be your best players”, Hitchcock said.
