His eyes were red and swollen, but not from a physical altercation, as might have been the case after almost every other hockey game in his life.
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Just like their husbands, however, they have suffered to get here.
Peter DeBoer is heading back to the Stanley Cup final.
And for the first couple of questions, he did exactly that.
“There’s no real way to deal with it, ” Pavelski said of the extra attention.
“I was hoping for more from the Blues in such a big game. He wants a cup and he wants it in San Jose”. “If they want to dress 40 guys, I’ll play ’em both”. “Speckled”, Marleau said, stroking his chin. “You know the heart is in here, the ability is in here”. That’s why we’re here right now. Whether or not the Sharks win their franchise’s first Stanley Cup this June, they’ve been a pleasure to watch and if they can keep this defensive/goaltending core intact, they could become the class of the Western Conference for years to come.
The Blues snapped Jones attempt at a third shutout of the series when Vladimir Tarasenko finally tallied his first point of the series with a goal at 11:39. These Blues were gassed.
By Game No. 20, the Blues were done.
And is it possible to hold them both in the same day?
The Blues, unlike in postseasons past, didn’t choke or disappoint this spring. He went on a tear in his first season with San Jose, winning the Hart Trophy and helping lead the Sharks to the playoffs after their rocky start to the season.
“Eventually we had to turn around”, Thornton said.
He’s right. They do. They just happened to run into another championship-caliber team in the Western Conference finals. The 21-year-old has filled in admirably for starter Ben Bishop, who remains sidelined by injury, giving the Lightning a chance to win despite seeing an average of over 38 shots per night in the series. It doesn’t make it any easier.
“When you don’t finish celebrating with champagne and hoisting a Cup, it’s disappointing”, Brouwer said. The experience should be invaluable moving forward. Backes’ contract expires on July 1.
Hitch is Ken Hitchcock, the Blues coach, who was wrapping up the toughest part of any playoff loss.
Team Canada has dominated at the IIHF World Championships over the last two years, but the World Cup of Hockey will have a different collection of players coming together to compete for national pride. Martin Jones made 24 saves, Ward posted his second straight two-goal game and rookie Joonas Donskoi also scored as the Sharks got lots of contributions from some of the newcomers general manager Doug Wilson brought in over the past year. They’re too talented not to.
The Blues were beat by a veteran team that had been hardened by past postseason failures. He looked as if he’d just clocked out from loading the last crate down at the docks.
This team won’t be duplicated and that meant something to these guys.
“This group was the best I’ve ever played with”, Ott said.
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That’s what made it so hard.
