Sharks Thornton among 7 added to Canada World Cup roster

"So it's a great feeling".

By now, you already know the San Jose Sharks made franchise history last night as they dispatched the St. Louis Blues in six games after a 5-2 beat down in Game 6 at SAP Center.

Their top line of Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl was dynamic.

There should be a lot of momentum heading into next year. None of those games came in the Stanley Cup Finals. The victory sends the Sharks through to the Stanley Cup Finals where they now await the victor of the Pittsburgh/Tampa Bay Lightning series.

"I think history has proven that you want to finish these series as quickly as possible, get as much rest as possible", Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said.

"It's hard to put into words", said Paul Martin, the Sharks' 35-year-old veteran defenseman who signed up with the team just last summer as a free agent, hoping he would get to the Cup final after failing to do so in his time with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins. The ones that have watched as the team fell short in the most heartbreaking of fashions in the past. "They're disappointed like we are". Still, there are people who believe this will be it for the head coach, that a new voice could help. "This is an unbelievable accomplishment for sure". "Their forwards really worked and put a lot of pressure on us from the backside - constant pressure". Then, maybe, the players can feel better about a breakthrough season that finally rewarded a long-suffering core that includes Backes, Elliott, Alex Pietrangelo, Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund. "We made some exhausted decisions late in periods and shifts that we hadn't made". We've seen that all season and for Vladimir Tarasenko, after being held without a goal all series, he wasn't going down without a fight.

Yes, there was trade speculation surrounding both Marleau and Thornton that can't be ignored, but they had full no-movement clauses and ultimately stayed with the team and were part of the solution - even though they weren't a problem in the first place. "They were committed a little bit better than us". I just think for whatever reason it hasn't come together.

Ward's second of the night early in the third was the eventual dagger, and game victor, for the Blues.

The Sharks scored the only goal of a first period. It was exciting", Pavelski said "The building was great. Not having to jumble the lineup and get knocked out of their rhythm has been huge. What are we going to do after the game?

"You try to learn from experiences", Joe Pavelski told reporters after Wednesday night's win. The Sharks would eventually jump out to a 4-0 lead, and it was game over. "That's the kind of guys we have in here", Backes said.

It was great to see the entire region get behind the Blues, a franchise that does its best to keep its fans happy. They were 4-6 at the Scottrade Center despite a string of vociferous standing-room crowds. The Blues also had home-ice advantage in the series, meaning they would have hosted Game 7 if they had been able to force it.

Bouwmeester was particularly victimized by the Sharks on numerous occasions including the opening goal as he finished a minus-six for the series despite playing almost 25 minutes per contest. It was his eighth goal of the playoffs but first since Game 7 against Dallas.

They've only lost the seven man games to injury, all of them belonging to Nieto. In 20 playoff games he tallied seven points (two goals and five assists).

The scoring was started in Game 6 by Joe Pavelski, who had led the Stanley Cup playoffs in both goals and points, prior to Game 6, as previously reported by The Inquisitr. C Micheal Haley, D Dylan DeMelo and D Matt Tennyson were San Jose's healthy scratches.