There is no shame, however, in a top four finish two years running.
#Western conference finals series#
Missed opportunities included the five power plays that went for naught in Game 4, and a chance to finish off the previous series against Detroit earlier, which might have resulted in a more fresh and rested squad for the conference finals. Many of the Sharks, including Boyle and rookie forward Logan Couture, felt that San Jose was the better team in the series and that if the team had performed as well as it could, it would have been back on the ice on San Jose on Thursday night. "If you rely on fate to work in your favor all the time, it's not a real good characteristic to hang your hat on." "I'm disappointed the hockey gods didn't take care of us, but - this is the important part - we didn't allow any room for any of that to go on in the series," McLellan said. But head coach Todd McLellan wasn't going to accept any outs. The Sharks had plenty of ready-made excuses, from the insane bounce to Bieksa, to a mistaken icing call at the end of regulation that led to a face-off in the Sharks' zone and the subsequent game-tying goal by Vancouver. In the second overtime Tuesday night at Vancouver, the puck flew off a partition and bounced to Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa, who bounced a knuckleball of a goal past Antti Niemi, sending Vancouver to the Stanley Cup Finals and San Jose home. But I don't know if the series was lost in Game 5." "That's the one I'm having a hard time with. Game 5 really makes me sick to my stomach," San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle said Thursday at the team's practice facility. "I'm still kind of having a nightmare about it. And the knockout blow came on a fluke play. San Jose's season ended, for the second year in a row, just a step away from the Stanley Cup Finals. The Sharks lost to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in double overtime to lose in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference finals.
Paul Sakuma/AP Show More Show Less 2 of2 San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan walks out of an office, Thursday, May 26, 2011, in San Jose, Calif. 1 of2 San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan appears at a news conference at the Sharks locker room, Thursday, May 26, 2011, in San Jose, Calif.
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