He appeared to coast at times, perhaps frustrated by all the attention he was getting from the San Jose defense. “They deserve it”, the 36-year-old Marleau said after Game 6.
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Marleau played his 165th career playoff game, the most for someone who never played in the Final. He won three division championships and led the Sharks to six of seven playoff appearances during his reign.
But on Wednesday night, these Sharks finally made it over the hump. They are one of the NHL’s two best teams this season, and they have a real chance of becoming this year’s Cup champions. Because the team has been so good for so long and yet failed to breathe this rarified air.
The Sharks, though, regrouped and Couture’s goal with 19.7 seconds left punctuated the win. The third line is risky as well, especially with Joel Ward heating up with four goals in his last two games. Sure, the Pens gave their first round pick to the Leafs, but a victory for ol’ Phil would be a silver lining indeed. Throughout this postseason every element of San Jose’s game has clicked and the Western Conference Final was no different.
But unlike past years, San Jose’s stars got plenty of help.
While San Jose’s scorers make headlines for their offense, their contributions defensively are key to the team’s success.
The goal came following a close call for the Blues moments earlier. Meanwhile, the Sharks defeated the Kings in five games.
Regardless of who wins the East, it’s hard not to root for the Sharks, and for their core that has suffered through so many seasons of failure and disappointment.
Obviously, much was made about the job San Jose did against Tarasenko, but they also victimized numerous top players for St. Louis. Overall, Hitchcock has done a great job in St. Louis. Their forwards really worked and put a lot of pressure on us from the backside.
But then there are some young players to provide fresh attitudes and bodies. He guided the team to a 107-point season, third-best overall in the National Hockey League, working with a roster beset with injuries to key personnel, and was instrumental in helping end that early-exit stigma. In his two games, Allen allowed seven goals on 59 shots.
The Sharks scored the only goal of a first period. The “Let’s Go Sharks!” chants started soon after the puck dropped, and those chants turned to “We Want The Cup!”
In the second round, the Sharks were stuck in a back-and-forth series against the Predators. The Sharks would eventually jump out to a 4-0 lead, and it was game over.
San Jose were due to find out who they will face in the finals last night, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins playing the deciding game in the Western Conference finals.
Then there was the Conference Finals.
So far so good, after the Sharks advanced to the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday. This, the players deserved to bask in this feeling for at least a day or more.
Marleau hugged Thornton’s parents, too – the Sharks are one big family these days. Both were eventually stripped of their captaincy, a move which tends to be enough to cause a player to look for a new place to play.
Probably no one appreciated it more than Thornton and Marleau, who have spent a collective 36 National Hockey League seasons trying to reach this point. San Jose RW Joe Pavelski brought a six-game point streak (four goals, five assists) in Game 6.
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The most notable player to fail to make the cut was Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban as all eight teams competing in the tournament completed their 23-player rosters on Friday.
