With a win over the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference finals, the San Jose Sharks have advanced to the team’s first ever Stanley Cup final.
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The scoring was started in Game 6 by Joe Pavelski, who had led the Stanley Cup playoffs in both goals and points, prior to Game 6, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.
Several other Sharks players had already been selected to participate, including Joe Pavelski (Team USA), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (Canada), Joonas Donskoi (Finland), Roman Polak and Tomas Hertl (Czech Republic).
Besides, the fact that San Jose’s powerplay is ranked number one among all playoff teams, aside from the Chicago Blackhawks, who were eliminated.
Former NHL player and GM and current NHL Network analyst Brian Lawton called into The Ryan Kelley Morning After on Thursday to give his thoughts on the Blues’ season following their Game 6 elimination by the San Jose Sharks. A former forward and linemate of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, Brent Burns has developed into arguably one of, if not the, best two-way defenseman in the National Hockey League. Joel Ward scored the lone goal in the 2nd period for the Sharks. Like rookies Robbi Fabri, tied for third on the team in goals this year, and Colton Parayko, who’s blistering shot from the point will be a well-know commodity next season. After all, both teams were noted playoff underachievers as the St. Louis Blues, entering the series, had never won the Western Conference either. The deficit proved insurmountable however, and the game was sealed when Logan Couture scored an empty-netter with twenty seconds remaining to make the final score 5-2 in favor of San Jose.
Yes, the acclaimed Italian tenor is set to perform on June 4 at the SAP Center in San Jose, which is also the same day that the Sharks will battle in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
It’s not just Marleau and Thornton experiencing this for the first time.
“It’s great. You dream of getting the chance to play for this. It’s a great feeling”.
“I don’t really focus in on the East because we don’t see the East too much”, Thornton said, “but obviously they’re a different team because they probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs if not for the coaching change”. If the finals run to all seven games, the final game will be played on June 15. Head coach Pete DeBoer, quoted by the National Hockey League website, made this clear. “I think we’ll enjoy this tonight and our focus will turn to the big prize on Friday”. Prior to Game 5 and 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Final, Ward had one other multigoal game in his previous 69 career playoff games (also Game 5 of 2011 CSF at VAN: 2-1-3 w/ NSH). A leader on and off the ice, Couture took note of the San Jose Sharks’ fans and the situation in general, as quoted by Mark Purdy in The Mercury News. It’s been a long time that we’ve been the favorite. They’ve had a lot of high hopes.
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Despite the Lightning’s recent success against Pittsburgh, and the Penguins’ struggle to close the deal in recent Game 7’s, Tampa Bay continues to trail on the Stanley Cup odds, sitting at +400, well back of the Penguins, who enjoy short +160 odds.
