Blues eliminated from Western Conference series<\/p>\n
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP): All the St. Louis Blues has for its
\n114-point regular-season championship is a worthless trophy.<\/p>\n
Steve Shields rebounded from a shaky Game 6 with 21 saves as
\nthe San Jose Sharks tightened up on defense to eliminate the
\nBlues in the first round of its Western Conference series with a
\n3-1 victory Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
"It's great," Shields said. "This is what you play for. You
\nwant to be in these types of games."<\/p>\n
Coach Darryl Sutter said his confidence never wavered in
\nShields, who was yanked after allowing five second-period goals
\nSunday in a 6-2 loss.<\/p>\n
"I'm not a genius, but I knew how he was going to bounce
\nback," Sutter said.<\/p>\n
The Blues, which seemingly seized control on the road in Game
\n6, landed with a thud in the seventh game in its quest to become
\nthe 16th team in NHL history to rally from a 3-1 series deficit.<\/p>\n
Coach Joel Quenneville bemoaned the Sharks' collection of ugly
\ngoals that put the Blues in a hole, topped by Owen Nolan's 19.8-
\nmeter (65-foot) drive at the end of the first period of Game 7
\nthat somehow eluded goalie Roman Turek.<\/p>\n
"I've never seen as many crazy goals as I have in this
\nseries," Quenneville said. "That's not an excuse, it's a fact."<\/p>\n
Nolan, who made it 2-0 with 10.2 seconds to go in the period,
\nknew this when he let fire.<\/p>\n
"It's been a flukey series for goals," he said. "I thought why
\nnot just shoot it on net and see what happens? He bobbled it and
\nit went in."<\/p>\n
The Presidents' Trophy winners became only the second NHL
\nregular-season champion to get knocked out in the first round,
\njoining the 1991 Chicago Blackhawks. Since the Presidents' Cup
\nwas established in the 1985-86 season, only four of the 15
\nwinners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n
"Obviously, there was a lot of talk about us going a long
\nway," right wing Scott Young said. "But you can never look past
\nthe first round. It's something that we didn't seem to mentally
\nprepare for."<\/p>\n
Ronnie Stern and Jeff Friesen also scored for the Sharks,
\nwhich finished 27 points behind the Blues. This is its third
\nmajor first-round upset in the nine-year franchise history,
\njoining triumphs over No. 1 conference seed Detroit in 1994 and
\nNo. 2 Calgary in 1995.<\/p>\n
The Sharks will face the Pacific Division champion Stars in
\nthe second round beginning Friday night at Dallas.<\/p>\n
Young, who had a hat trick in Game 6, scored his sixth goal of
\nthe playoffs on a third-period power play for St. Louis.<\/p>\n
This was the 14th first-round playoff exit for the Blues,
\nwhich got off only six shots in the first period and five in the
\nsecond to disappoint a sellout crowd of 20,418 - largest of the
\nseason. The Blues hasn't made it out of the second round since
\n1986.<\/p>",
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