Once the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Minnesota Wild on Saturday — keeping the Sharks from claiming a fifth consecutive Pacific Division title — San Jose, which clinched a playoff spot two nights earlier, defeated the Kings and earned the seventh seed in the Western Conference and a matchup against the Blues.
The Sharks will travel to St. Louis on Thursday to face the Blues in a seven-game series. It’s the eighth straight year the Sharks earned a playoff berth.
But unlike previous years, the Sharks won’t have the luxury of home-ice advantage.
But coach Todd McLellan’s Sharks have more to worry about than home-ice advantage when looking toward a series with St. Louis. The Blues, despite losing seven of their final 11 games, fell one victory short of taking home the President’s Trophy, which is awarded to the team with the best record. Vancouver, the No. 1 seed, took home that accolade.
San Jose, playing the Blues for the fourth time in postseason history, closed strongly. Seven wins in the last nine games, including consecutive two-game sweeps of Dallas and Los Angeles, earned the Sharks their franchise’s 15th postseason berth.
Between goalies Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott, the Blues gave up a league-low 1.89 goals per game. While Halak played in more games, Elliott had nine shutouts to help the Blues produced a modern NHL-record 15.
“They are both elite goaltenders,” San Jose captain Joe Thornton said. “Some 2-1, 1-0 games. That’s what we’re going to be expecting. It’s going to be a great matchup. Staying out of the penalty box, that’s number one. We weren’t very disciplined in their building.”
McLellan turned resiliency for his club to shake off the Blues 4-0 season-series drubbing of San Jose.
“It’s not going to go our way all of the time,” McLellan said. “The long trip (nine games) took a lot out of us.”
Referring to the strong final weeks of the season, McLellan added that although “we didn’t play perfect, we played well enough against some very good hockey teams in pressure situations that prepared us.”
The Blues have been to the postseason twice in the previous seven seasons, while the Sharks are in the playoffs for the eighth straight year.
“At some point, I do believe that (playoff) experience comes into play,” McLellan said. “I believe we’ll need that.”
Only Detroit, with five series, has been a more frequent playoff adversary than St. Louis. San Jose owns a 2-1 record in past series, including winning in seven games in 2000 and in five in 2004. The Blues won in six games in 2001.
“Everybody plays their system,” Patrick Marleau said of the Blues’ strong suit. “They don’t make too many mistakes.”
“We’ll have to match their grit, their speed,” Thornton added.
St. Louis allowed three goals in four outings against the Sharks this season.
“We were at a different level than we were in the past,” Ryane Clowe said about the difference between this year’s and past year’s playoff teams. “We didn’t really play well, to be honest. (By the end of the season) we played with a lot of emotion. (In past years) we’d be waiting to see who we play, rather than if you are going to make it (this year).”
In the playoffs, it doesn’t matter each team’s seeds.
“It doesn’t matter if a team’s number one or number eight,” Thornton said. “Our goal’s to win the Stanley Cup, and St. Louis is in our way right now.”
