Sharks Ruin Spirit of St. Louis

All the St. Louis Blues have to show for their 114-point regular-season championship is the President’s Trophy that comes with it.

Steve Shields rebounded from a shaky Game 6 with 21 saves as the San Jose Sharks tightened up on defense for a 3-1 victory Tuesday night in the deciding game of their first-round Western Conference playoff series with the Blues.

“It’s great,” Shields said. “This is what you play for. You want to be in these types of games.”

Before a sellout crowd of 20,418, the Blues, who seemingly had seized control on the road in Game 6, landed with a thud in Game 7 in their quest to become the 16th team in NHL history to rally from a 3-1 series deficit.

St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville bemoaned the Sharks’ collection of ugly goals that put the Blues in a hole, topped by Owen Nolan’s 65-foot drive at the end of the second period that somehow eluded goalie Roman Turek.

“I’ve never seen as many crazy goals as I have in this series,” Quenneville said. “That’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.”

Nolan, who made it 2-0 with 10.2 seconds to go in the period, had that in mind when he let fire.

“It’s been a flukey series for goals,” he said. “I thought why not just shoot it on net and see what happens? He bobbled it and it went in.”

The Blues became only the second NHL regular-season champion to get knocked out in the first round, joining the 1991 Chicago Blackhawks.

Ronnie Stern and Jeff Friesen also scored for the Sharks, who finished 27 points behind the Blues during the regular season.

It was the Sharks’ third major first-round upset in the nine-year franchise history, joining triumphs over No. 1 conference seed Detroit in 1994 and No. 2 Calgary in 1995. The Sharks will face the Pacific Division champion Dallas Stars in the second round beginning Friday

Around the League

Eric Lindros, sidelined for more than a month because of a concussion, has been cleared to skate but is unlikely to participate in the Philadelphia Flyers’ upcoming playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lindros has been riding a stationary bicycle and engaging in other aerobic exercises each day. . . . Roger Neilson, who learned on Monday he won’t be allowed to coach the Flyers against the Penguins, took a shot at the organization in an interview with a Toronto radio station Tuesday. “I don’t think they want a cancer patient who is a friend of Eric Lindros behind the bench right now,” said Neilson, who is recovering from a stem-cell transplant for bone marrow cancer. Neilson later said he was mainly joking.

Computer Associates chief Charles Wang has agreed to buy the New York Islanders. Wang, purchasing the club from Howard and Edward Milstein and Steven Gluckstern, will be the fourth owner since 1997--pending league approval. Details of the reported $175-million deal are expected to be announced today. . . . Toronto’s Bryan Berard, who suffered a severe eye injury March 11, said he plans to attend Game 2 of the New Jersey Devils-Maple Leafs series Saturday night at Toronto.. . . . Devil forward Jay Pandolfo will wear a full face shield in Game 1 Thursday night after suffering a non-displaced fracture of his left cheekbone when struck by the heel of teammate Scott Stevens’ stick in the final game of New Jersey’s opening-round sweep of Florida. . . . New Jersey enforcer Krzysztof Oliwa underwent surgery on his left knee and is out of the playoffs.