For the Sharks, a Talent That Hasn’t Translated

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — For a franchise that has endured more than its share of playoff disappointments, the end to this season for the San Jose Sharks might rank right at the top.

Vancouver Canucks' Ryan Kesler, left, celebrates his game-tying goal with less than 14 seconds left in the third period of Game 5.

If it happens on ice and it involves hitting and scoring, The Times's Slap Shot blog is on it.

A game-tying goal after a questionable call in the closing seconds of regulation, several prime scoring chances in overtime turned aside by a goalie at the top of his game, and a fluky bounce that led to a season-ending goal in double overtime.

It all added up to a second straight season that ended a step short of the team’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals as San Jose lost, 3-2, to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Now the Sharks head into another off-season wondering what it will take to get this supremely talented team past the conference finals hurdle.

“You could ask 27 teams, and I think they’re a little jealous at the success we’ve had,” the captain Joe Thornton said. “For whatever reason, you know, you get down to the top two teams in your conference, and they’re pretty good teams. To get here is an accomplishment, but next year, we’ve got to beat it.”

The Sharks have had the second-best regular-season record, behind Detroit, over the last seven seasons, but they have not been able to translate that into a championship. San Jose was swept by eventual champion Chicago last year and then lost in five games this season to the Canucks.

“I think a successful season is winning a Cup, and anything less is not good enough,” forward Patrick Marleau said. “It’s just frustrating to see it slip away like that.”

While the Sharks blew a third-period lead in Game 1, lost their composure late in Game 2 and were done in by five blown power-play chances and a record three 5-on-3 goals allowed in Game 4, the last game may haunt them most.

Kevin Bieksa’s game-winner came after Alex Edler’s dump in caromed awkwardly off the glass on the sideboards and out to the defenseman just inside the blue line. Bieksa’s quick shot beat Antti Niemi inside the right post before he — and almost everyone else on the ice — could find the puck. That was only possible because of an apparent blown call late in regulation that allowed the Canucks to tie the game. With the Sharks clinging to a 2-1 lead in the final minute, Dan Boyle was called for icing on a clear from behind his net. But replays showed the puck hit Vancouver forward Daniel Sedin, which should have negated the call.

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In Game 7, the Bruins Are Counting on Thomas to Be Extraordinary

More evidence in support of that statement came in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-4 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, when Thomas stopped just 21 shots. In fairness to him, three Lightning goals came on power plays, but still, he was ordinary at best.

He will have to be better than ordinary on Friday night in Game 7 at TD Garden. Thomas’s Lightning counterpart, Dwayne Roloson, has an impeccable career record in elimination games — he has been the winning goalie in all seven he has played.

Boston Coach Claude Julien would not say it, but the Bruins are entirely dependent on Thomas’s often amazing goalkeeping. For Thomas, however, that is proving harder to conjure against Tampa Bay.

“We learned again tonight that they’re not giving us anything,” Thomas said after Game 6. “It’s a best-of-seven series for a reason. If it was a best-of-five series, we would have won this already.”

This Game 7 comes exactly one month after both the Bruins (against Montreal) and the Lightning (against Pittsburgh) prevailed in first-round Game 7 victories.

Thomas has been stellar at times in this series, as he was in a 2-0 shutout in Game 3 and in the Bruins’ 3-1 win in Game 5, when he leapt back to make a diving, full-stretch save that robbed Steve Downie in the third period and preserved the victory.

Performances like those are a continuation of Thomas’s excellence in the regular season, when he set an N.H.L. record with a .938 save percentage.

How important is Thomas to the Bruins? Had he instead registered the same merely good .918 save percentage as his backup, Tuukka Rask, Thomas would have given up an additional 36 goals over the course of the season. That could have cost the Bruins about a dozen points in the standings — enough to drop them from third to ninth place, out of the playoffs.

In the series against Tampa Bay, however, Thomas has managed only a .905 percentage.

“Timmy has been really good at bouncing back and playing solid for us,” Julien said. “Our team has been really resilient that way.”

The Lightning’s roster of sharpshooting star forwards (Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos) and overachieving role players (Downie, Sean Bergenheim, Teddy Purcell) has struck for five goals in four games against the Bruins.

Purcell, surprisingly, leads the Lightning in this series with five goals. He had 28 in his five-year N.H.L. career coming into the postseason.

Bergenheim, at one point Tampa Bay’s leading playoff scorer, has missed the last two games with an injury. His status is unknown for Game 7.

At the other end of the ice, Roloson has been even more spotty after being brilliant in the first two rounds. Removed from two games in this series and relegated to the bench in favor of the backup Mike Smith in another, Roloson has managed a dismal .851 save percentage against Boston.

Yet the only other goalie in N.H.L. history to roll up a 7-0 record in his first seven elimination games was Chico Resch of the Islanders, in 1975.

Roloson’s first three elimination-game wins came with Edmonton in 2006, but the next three came this year, when Tampa Bay rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Pittsburgh, followed by victory Wednesday in the do-or-die Game 6.

His good fortune in all-or-nothing games mirrors that of the Lightning franchise, which is 3-0 in Game 7s. On Friday, Tampa Bay will try to become the first N.H.L. team to go 4-0 in Game 7s.

If there is an advantage to be had, chances are Tampa Bay’s resourceful coach, Guy Boucher, will find it. On Wednesday morning, he noted that one of the referees assigned to that night’s Game 6 had penalized Lightning players at a far higher rate than the Lightning’s opponents.

“It’s 24-9 against, right?” Boucher said of the previous four Tampa Bay games refereed by Eric Furlatt, though he did not mention Furlatt by name. “Yes, I’m aware of it. Very aware of it. Very, very aware of it.”

In Game 6, the Bruins got five power plays to the Lightning’s four, and Tampa Bay wound up outscoring Boston on the power play, 3-1.

“Hopefully what was said today didn’t have any impact on that,” Julien said after the game of Boucher’s comments. “Because if it did, I’d be really disappointed.”

The N.H.L. will announce the referees for Game 7 on Friday morning, a league spokesman said. 

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Stanley Cup Finals to Start in Vancouver on June 1

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Stanley Cup finals, between Vancouver and either Boston or Tampa, will begin on June 1 in Vancouver, the NHL announced on Thursday.

The Canucks, winners of the Western Conference, will host the first two games of the best-of-seven series, as well as the fifth and seventh games, if required.

Their opponents will be decided when the Boston Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday in the deciding seventh game of the Eastern Conference.

The Eastern Conference winner will host the third and fourth games of the finals, and game six, if needed.

Stanley Cup schedule:

Game 1 - Wednesday, June 1 at Vancouver

Game 2 - Saturday, June 4 at Vancouver

Game 3 - Monday, June 6 at Boston or Tampa Bay

Game 4 - Wednesday, June 8 at Boston or Tampa Bay

Game 5 - Friday, June 10 at Vancouver (if required)

Game 6 - Monday, June 13 at Boston or Tampa Bay (if required)

Game 7 - Wednesday, June 15 at Vancouver (if required)

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh))

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Lightning 5, Bruins 4: Lightning Tops Bruins, Forcing Decisive Game

Game 7 is Friday night in Boston. The Bruins are seeking their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 21 years, and the Lightning will try to clinch its first appearance on hockey’s biggest stage since it won its only N.H.L. championship in 2004.

The Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks await the winner in the finals.

St. Louis also assisted on a third-period goal that put the Lightning up, 4-2. His second goal — and N.H.L.-leading 10th of the playoffs — restored Tampa Bay’s two-goal lead after Boston pulled to 4-3 on one of two goals Krejci scored to keep the Bruins within striking distance in the closing minutes.

Roloson, who didn’t play in Game 5 after being pulled from two of the previous three games because of ineffectiveness, also gave up a pair of first-period goals and finished with 16 saves.

Boston’s Tim Thomas gave up another early goal, then struggled after Krejci and Milan Lucic scored to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead through one period.

The Lightning took control when St. Louis, Purcell and Steven Stamkos scored power-play goals within a 12-minute span of the second and third periods.

Roloson improved to 7-0 in elimination games during his career, including 4-0 this postseason.

The Lightning rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Pittsburgh in the first round, with their 41-year-old goalie shutting out the Penguins in Game 7 on the road.

Tampa Bay’s coach, Guy Boucher, gave backup goalie Mike Smith his first career playoff start Monday night, saying he felt Roloson — whose midseason acquisition was one of the keys to Tampa Bay emerging as a contender — needed a “breather” after starting the Lightning’s first 15 postseason games. Smith stopped 17 of 19 shots in the Game 5 loss, but Boucher didn’t hesitate to go back to Roloson with the Lightning facing elimination.

“Personally, I don’t like the word desperation. ... To me, it’s just another game,” Roloson said after the Lightning’s skate Wednesday morning. “You have to focus on your job.”

Boston’s coach, Claude Julien, said his team would need to play its best game of the series to advance.

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Slap Shot: Do or Dye Victory for the Lightning

There are many ways to support your favorite teams, from wearing squishy foam No. 1 fingers to face-painting.

And yes, there are the beloved Green Men of Vancouver.

But the Tampa Bay Lightning took a different tack to drum up team love and good karma for Wednesday’s win-or-die Game 6 against the Bruins. Make that dye and win Game 6.

Nothing says go team like dumping 36 gallons of environmentally safe blue dye into Tampa Bay’s Garrison Channel, turning the seaway into a bright shade of Lightning blue.

Maybe the blue hue worked its magic, as the Lightning won, 5-4, forcing Friday’s Game 7 in Boston.

The team paired with the Florida Aquarium in the endeavor, wanting to show support for the Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals and the Tampa Bay area’s marine life.

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