Three things we learned in the NHL: Sharks’ stars come up big

The Shark Tank was howling with glee as the two sides lined up and shook hands after the Sharks crushed the Nashville Predators in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

San Jose made a statement in Game 7 versus Nashville, Weber was not at his best, and more in three things we learned in the NHL.

Sharks’ stars come out in rout of Predators

The San Jose Sharks will play in the Western Conference final for the fourth time in franchise history.

The Sharks stomped the Predators 5-0 in a one-sided Game 7 win Thursday night to move on to face the St. Louis Blues for a shot at the Stanley Cup Final.

There was no shortage of contributions from San Jose’s stars in this one.

Joe Pavelski‘s power-play goal at 9:02 of the first period would stand as the game winner. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau both chipped in with a goal and an assist, and Logan Couture totalled a goal and two assists.

Joel Ward scored the Sharks’ second goal of the contest, making the usually stellar Roman Josi look like a junior C defenceman in the process.

Pavelski’s goal was his ninth of the playoffs, moving him into a tie with Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov for the league lead.

Sharks goaltender Martin Jones earned his first career post-season shutout in what was the first Game 7 start of his career.

The Blues host the Sharks Sunday night to open the Western Conference final.

Weber withers under pressure

Shea Weber has seen better nights.

The Predators captain wore a minus-3 in Thursday’s loss to the Sharks. His mistakes were of the extremely noticeable variety, including a brutal giveaway on Couture’s second period marker.

Later, Weber got caught on a bad offensive zone pinch and ended up sliding into the boards as the Sharks turned a 4-on-1 into a Thornton power-play goal to make it a 4-0 game.

It’s been a tough post-season for Weber.

Translation for the uninitiated: Not good hockey.

Rinne raged out

The 2015-16 season was not Pekka Rinne‘s best.

The three-time Vezina Trophy finalist had his moments during the post-season, but his defence hung him out to dry in Thursday’s loss.

Rinne got the hook following Marleau’s goal to make it 5-0 with just under four minutes left in the third period. The big Finnish netminder let it all out on his way out of the crease.

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