Sharks Show in Game 7 Goalfest They Have Plenty of Firepower to Match Blues

The San Jose Sharks are back in familiar waters looking to journey deeper into uncharted territory.

With a 5-0 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series, the Sharks advanced to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2011. The franchise has never been beyond that round.

There are plenty of reasons, however, for Sharks fans to hold out hope that will happen this spring as the team gets ready to face the St. Louis Blues in the semifinal round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Start with the Game 7 victory Thursday night.

The Sharks had all the pressure on their shoulders, with few expecting the Predators to make it this far in the postseason and the Sharks having to deal with ghosts of past playoff failures—including the four-game collapse against the Los Angeles Kings two seasons ago and just a single victory in two consecutive cracks at a Western Conference Final in 2010 and 2011.

They came out Thursday looking relaxed, fast and furious, netting three goals in the first 20 minutes, 36 seconds. Before the five-minute mark of the final frame, they had chased Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne from the net, frustrating him to such a level the usually unflappable Finn snapped his stick in half on the goal post and launched it at the glass.

“I don’t think you really expect a game to end like that, but it’s a little nicer—I’m not gonna lie,” Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said on the ice after the broadcast on Sportsnet and NBC.

The Sharks offense is that good when playing with energy and purpose. Joe Pavelski scored his playoff-leading ninth goal (tied with Nikita Kucherov) to start things off right for the Men in Teal. Joel Ward, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau all piled on as things progressed.

And they did it all with one of the NHL’s top defensive tandems on the ice for every single one of those goals.

Yes, Roman Josi and Shea Weber were out there defending each time the Sharks scored.

But the Sharks have that kind of depth.

They’ll need it against the St. Louis Blues in the next round. The Blues roll four quality lines, and three of them are equally dangerous on the scoring front. Additionally, they are fresh off a 6-1 demolition of the Dallas Stars in Game 7, and the Blues lead the playoffs in total goals scored with 44.

The defense is solid, too, having just shut down the Stars’ top-ranked regular-season offense enough to advance into the third round.

Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Colton Parayko and Jay Bouwmeester are as fine a top four as the Preds boasted in Weber, Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm. Maybe even better.

The Sharks look up to the task.

They had a 17-3 lead on the shot clock after 20 minutes. The Predators touched the puck so infrequently in that frame it took them more than eight minutes to log their first shot on goal.

The reason was the Sharks were relentless in their puck pursuit. That includes veterans Marleau and Thornton, who seem to have discovered the fountain of youth.

Couture had a monster game with a goal (his seventh of the playoffs) and two assists in Game 7, giving him a league-leading 17 points through two rounds. His 11 points in Round 2 set a franchise record.

Pavelski had four goals in the series and is tied for the NHL lead with three game-winning goals in these playoffs. The way he's played, you might expect a few more.

The frenzied Shark Tank was loud counting down in celebration as the clock wore down. There could be more of that in the coming days.

“That place was rocking the last two minutes,” Burns said of the home crowd. “That was a pretty special feeling.”

So is making it to the conference finals for the fourth time in franchise history.

It’s tough to imagine them not winning more than a game this time around.