The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks have made it through the toughest terrain in the NHL, the Western Conference playoffs, following 4-3 series wins in the second round. Both teams are worthy of a Stanley Cup Final berth, but those hard-fought victories won't mean a thing if the dream dies in the conference final.
St. Louis has been to the Final three times—1968, 1969 and 1970—but it's been a long drought. The Blues made it to this point by topping the Western Conference giants, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Stars, relying on great goaltending from Brian Elliott and timely scoring.
The Sharks have been a successful regular-season franchise for most of this century, missing the playoffs only twice. On the other hand, the team has made it to the Western Conference Final only three times, and it has never gained entry to the Stanley Cup Final. San Jose is a rather new NHL franchise—the first season for the Sharks was 1991-92—but the team is overdue for an opportunity for the Stanley Cup.
San Jose reached this point via an impressive five-game series against the Los Angeles Kings in the ope ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Allan Mitchell
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May 15th, 2016 by Allan Mitchell Leave a reply »
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