Written by the AP at CBC.ca
Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and the rest of the San Jose Sharks gathered around the Campbell Bowl for a celebratory picture after winning the Western Conference final.
In that moment, all those past playoff disappointments and collapses were forgotten. It will take four more wins to put to rest those questions about if they had the fortitude to win it all.
Captain Joe Pavelski scored an early goal, Joel Ward added two more and the Sharks advanced to their first Stanley Cup final in franchise history by beating the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Wednesday night in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling,” Thornton said. “Obviously it’s our first time. It was pretty neat to get this done at home. The fans here have waited so long, 25 years. We’ve waited 18 years or so. So it’s a great feeling.”
Joonas Donskoi also scored, Logan Couture had an empty-netter and Martin Jones made 24 saves as a Sharks team notorious for post-season letdowns will play for the championship that has eluded Thornton and Marleau since they entered the league as the top two picks in 1997.
Thornton assisted on Pavelski’s goal less than four minutes into the game to set the tone and Marleau had two assists in the third period that set off chants of “We Want The Cup! We Want The Cup!”
“We’re just enjoying the ride right now,” Marleau said. “We’ve had some really good teams over the years.”
Despite making the playoffs 16 times in 18 seasons and winning the second-most games in the NHL since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Sharks have been known for their soul-crushing playoff disappointments.
They won just three games in three previous trips to the conference final, were knocked out twice in four seasons by a No. 8 seed and most notably blew a 3-0 series lead to lose in the first round to Los Angeles in 2014.
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