San Jose Applies the Clincher

San Jose’s incredible regular season was no mistake. The Sharks are deep, fast and a little bit lucky -- and they’re moving ahead in the playoffs.

Injury replacement Mark Smith scored his first playoff goal and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 21 shots in the Sharks’ 3-1 series-clinching victory over St. Louis on Thursday night in San Jose.

Mike Ricci got an insurance goal with 3:38 left and Brad Stuart also scored as the Sharks won the series, 4-1, winning three games at home.

A year after finishing 14th in the Western Conference, the Sharks capped their franchise-record 104-point regular season with their fifth trip to the second round. They’ve never advanced the conference finals, but they’ve never been on such a late-season roll, either.

Brian Savage scored for the Blues, who had only two goals in their last four games in San Jose, including Nabokov’s overtime shutout victory in Game 1. St. Louis controlled play for most of Game 5, but the Blues missed a handful of open-net chances that left Chris Pronger slamming his stick on the ice in frustration.

Nabokov was outstanding in the final minutes, making several sprawling saves shortly before San Jose’s defense thwarted a six-on-four St. Louis power play in the final 78 seconds.

Nabokov gave up seven goals in the two games in St. Louis, but he was back in top form at home. He got plenty of defensive help -- and the Sharks got the winning goal from Smith, an unlikely source who has played only rarely as a checker during his four seasons in San Jose. Alyn McCauley’s shoulder injury in Game 1 has given Smith four games of action.

Smith played on a line with rookie Marcel Goc, a former first-round draft pick making his NHL debut because of an injury to Scott Thornton -- and the youngsters generated a goal in the second period. Goc jarred the puck away from defenseman Christian Backman in the Blues’ zone, and Smith made a wild swipe at the puck that somehow found the net.

Calgary 2, Vancouver 1 -- Jarome Iginla’s third-period goal at Vancouver, Canada, put the Flames within a victory of reaching the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.

The Flames caught a break on Iginla’s goal, which snapped a 1-1 tie. A shot by defenseman Mike Commodore ricocheted in off Iginla and the skate of Canuck defender Mattias Ohlund, who was tied up in the crease with Flame forward Martin Gelinas.

Calgary leads the best-of-seven series, 3-2, with Game 6 at Calgary on Saturday. The Flames have not won a playoff series since they won the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff continued his domination over the Canucks, making 32 saves, including 12 in the third period when the Flames had only two shots.

With starting goaltender Dan Cloutier out because of a sprained ankle sustained in Game 3, Canuck Coach Marc Crawford pulled a surprise. He bypassed backup Johan Hedberg in favor of Alex Auld, a recent recall from Manitoba of the American Hockey League. Auld, who played well, had not played since April 4 with Manitoba.

Vancouver outshot Calgary, 33-20.

Detroit 4, Nashville 1 -- Pavel Datsyuk’s dazzling passes set up two goals before seven minutes elapsed at Detroit and the Red Wings took a 3-2 series lead.

Henrik Zetterberg, Brett Hull and Brendan Shanahan scored in the first period for the Red Wings.

Detroit’s Curtis Joseph made 19 saves in his first playoff start since the Red Wings were swept by Anaheim in the first round last season. Joseph, who has been hobbled with an ankle injury for much of the season, replaced Manny Legace.

Tomas Vokoun made 27 saves. He had stopped 82 of 83 shots in Games 3 and 4 as Nashville evened the series with two wins at home.

Montreal 5, Boston 1 -- Saku Koivu had a goal and two assists and Jose Theodore made 43 saves as Montreal stayed alive in the playoffs with a victory at Boston.

Montreal scored two power-play goals, but the Bruins continued to struggle with the man advantage. Boston failed on four tries and is two of 22 in the series.

The Bruins lead the series, 3-2.