Sharks Advance in Western Conference Finals

Captain Joe Pavelski and the rest of San Jose's big guns took little time to answer the questions about how this version of the Sharks would respond after a lackluster loss in a potential series clincher.

Pavelski helped San Jose to a fast start in Game 7 with his franchise record-tying ninth goal of the playoffs to send the Sharks to their first Western Conference finals in five years with a 5-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Joel Ward, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau also scored as San Jose shook off an overtime loss in Game 6 to reach the conference finals for the fourth time in franchise history.

"As soon as the puck dropped tonight, the guys were going," Thornton said. "It was nice to see. It was a huge game for us. I'm just glad we came [out] on the good side tonight."

Martin Jones made 20 saves for San Jose's first playoff shutout in six years. The home team won all seven games in this series.

After blowing a 3-0 series lead to Los Angeles in 2014 in their most noteworthy in a long list of playoff collapses and missing the postseason last year, the Sharks are now one round away from advancing to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in franchise history.

San Jose will open the conference finals on the road Sunday against the St. Louis Blues.

Thursday, May 12 Scoreboard

San Jose 5, Nashville 0

Game 7 - Sharks won 4-3

Friday, May 13 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh

Game 1 - Series tied 0-0, 7 p.m.

Saturday, May 14 Schedule

No Games Scheduled

Sunday, May 15 Schedule

San Jose at St. Louis

Game 1 - Series tied 0-0, 7 p.m.