Pavelski, whose two goals gave him an NHL-best 12 for the postseason, also assisted on Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s first period goal as the Sharks took a three-games-to-two lead with Game 6 on Wednesday in San Jose.
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A few years ago, the San Jose Sharks looked beyond the ice and started examining player sleeping habits.
Hold your breath. The Sharks, with a defeat of the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center, will earn a trip to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since the team was born in 1991.
“We needed a jolt to get back in the series and we got it”, Hitchcock said on Allen’s performance. “His biggest asset is he works at it”.
The San Jose Sharks moved to within one win of the Stanley Cup finals after beating the St. Louis Blues 6-3 to take control of their Western Conference series. “If we play a game like we did the other night, you just try to respond, play a good game like tonight. He played great. It’s up to the coaches who they want to play, but either guy, they’ve been stellar all year”. He scored 40 goals in the regular season and had 13 points in 14 games the first two rounds but has been completely shut down by Vlasic and San Jose’s defense in the conference final. As if the Capitals and Alex Ovechkin wouldn’t kill to have had as much playoff success as Joe Thornton’s team. We’re going to hope that everybody does it.
Vlasic has been just as important by helping to keep the other team’s top scorers nearly completely off the scoreboard.
SAN JOSE (AP) – Patrick Marleau has played more than 1,500 games with the San Jose Sharks since joining the National Hockey League as an 18-year-old draft pick but never one quite like the next one.
“We’ve done it all season, all playoff run”, forward Logan Couture said. “We get it back here for Game 7, all bets are off”. They have done a good job of staying in the moment, as Joe Thornton says.
NOTES: Both RW David Backes and LW Robby Fabbri were in the Blues’ lineup for game 5 despite having left game 4 because of injuries. Check the news on the day of Game 6 to see who is starting in goal for the Blues. “We’ve gotten better as this series has gone on and we want to continue to improve and keep playing”.
“To me, it’s execution and your best players just have to be your best players”, Hitchcock said. “He’s struggled offensively. He hasn’t got the looks offensively that he normally gets”. That’s why the biggest storyline heading into these Western Conference Final was the simple fact that one of these two organizations would finally break through.
Martin Jones was ripe for the picking too as he let in some bad goals in Game 4 and some bad ones tonight.
“You could tell he was special from the get-go. I mean, that’s a long way away”, said head coach Peter DeBoer, spoken like a man who arrived here only last September.
In order to avoid such troubles, the Blues need to avoid falling into traps that lead to penalties or approach the game more patiently to force the opposition to make mental mistakes with a series lead and consequentially receive more penalties. Instead, St. Louis led 2-1.
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Troy Brouwer took a swipe and smacked a rebound out of midair that fluttered past an unsuspecting Martin Jones for the Blues’ second goal of the first period. “That doesn’t play any role on us and what we’re doing”. He redirected Brent Burns’ drive from the point 16 seconds into the third to put the Sharks in front to stay. “He’s mentally strong. No matter what happened in the first or second, it doesn’t matter”.
