San Jose Sharks' Veteran Core Climbs to New Level Against Blues in WCF

With a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, the San Jose Sharks progressed deeper into the playoffs than any previous edition of the team.

This is the Sharks' fourth trip to the Western Conference Final, but it's the first time San Jose has won more than two games. The previous high-water mark for the franchise came in 2004, when it lost in six games to the Calgary Flames.

The interesting thing about this version of the Sharks isn't the way it differs from previous iterations. Rather, it is the similarities of the 2015-16 team to past incarnations that make it so compelling.

Monday's game provided a good example.

The opening goal was credited to defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, as the league's official scorers determined his shot from the point was not deflected en route to the net. The setup pass came from Joe Pavelski, and the play started with a faceoff win by Joe Thornton:

Thornton had a stellar game. Not only did the centre pick up three assists, but he tilted things in San Jose's favour. With Thornton on the ice at even strength, the shot chart read 10-4 for the Sharks; the men in teal were outshot 15-12 when Thornton was on the bench at even strength. He achieved this feat even as Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock hard-matched the Paul Stastny forward line and Alex Pietrangelo defence pairing in an attempt to contain Thornton.

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Thornton is not some newcomer to the team. He was there in 2010 when San Jose was swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference final. He was there in 2011 when the Sharks picked up just a single win against the Vancouver Canucks in the conference final. He's been around long enough to remember when the Edmonton Oilers not only made the playoffs but knocked out San Jose in the second round (2006). He is the personification of the good-but-not-great Sharks teams of the last decade.

Pavelski was similarly brilliant against St. Louis on Monday. He scored two goals and added an assist and now boasts 12 goals in 17 contests this postseason. Hitchcock called his first goal of the night "a killer," as per ESPN's Pierre LeBrun:

Pavelski is on a six-game scoring streak that includes the entirety of the Sharks' series against the Blues. Like Thornton, he's familiar with playoff defeat; his rookie year was 2006-07, when San Jose won 51 regular-season games but only six in the playoffs.

Vlasic was another member of that 2006-07 rookie class, along with the since-departed Ryane Clowe (who retired in September because of concussions) and Matt Carle (who is with the Tampa Bay Lightning). He had a good night offensively, picking up that first goal and adding an assist on the Sharks' second marker. Yet he's often overshadowed, even on his own team, because his primary virtues lie on the defensive side of the puck.

Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

If San Jose wins the series, Vlasic will deserve (though likely not get) much of the credit. St. Louis sniper Vladimir Tarasenko entered the series with 13 points in 14 playoff games but has gone pointless through five contests. Mostly, Tarasenko has been matched against Vlasic—and it's a matchup that has favoured the Sharks:

• Game 1: 9:00 TOI, shots 4-3 St. Louis
• Game 2: 5:14 TOI, shots 5-3 San Jose
• Game 3: 10:40 TOI, shots 3-1 St. Louis
• Game 4: 5:34 TOI, shots 6-1 San Jose
• Game 5: 11:20 TOI, shots 5-4 St. Louis
• Total: 41:48 TOI, shots 19-16 San Jose

Thornton, Pavelski and Vlasic were the stars in Game 5, but they're far from the only long-time Sharks performing well in these playoffs.

Logan Couture is tied with Pavelski for the team lead with 21 points; he's been with the club since 2009-10. Brent Burns, whose first season in teal was 2011-12, is averaging better than one point per game from the blue line. Patrick Marleau continues to produce (10 points in 17 games) after more than 1,400 regular-season games with San Jose.

To be sure, the core that led the Sharks in so many playoff failures has since been augmented. Joel Ward and Paul Martin were important veteran additions; the former scored twice and the latter logged more than 20 minutes on the ice in Game 5. Younger players—like Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi—have helped make the team better. The goaltender position was overhauled from even a year ago.

On the whole, though, the players who have led San Jose to a 3-2 lead in the conference final are the same players who previously couldn't get the team over the hump in the playoffs year after year after year.

The Sharks have been contenders for ages, but with most of their nucleus over the age of 30 and their long history of postseason disappointment, many had given up on them enjoying playoff success. And yet here they are, just a single win from the Stanley Cup Final.

Statistics courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.