On to the Next One: Blues Eliminate Sharks with 3-1 Win

Ten years is a long-ass time to wait to get to the second round, but here we are.

What. A. Win.

The Blues had a chance to close out the San Jose Sharks on home ice in front of a packed crowd at Scottrade Center. San Jose, of course, had a chance to make the Blues travel halfway across the country again for Game 6. For 50 minutes, the Sharks were winning that battle.

Following Thursday's win all the talk was that the Sharks were going to come hard and play the best game of the series—the proverbial dead cat bounce if you will. It happened. The Sharks had a sluggish first period but came out like they were shot out of a cannon in the second period. The Sharks dominated play and managed to sneak a goal past the seemingly impenetrable Brian Elliott.

Still it was just one goal.

In the third, in a span of 45 seconds, the Blues woke up and turned back into a team that was the best team in hockey for most of the season. Jamie Langenbrunner and Scott Nichol scored a goal to wake up the crowd. David Perron responded with a phenomenal tip. Just like that, it was 2-1. When Andy McDonald iced it with an empty netter, well I let out a roar that scared my dog. It was incredible.

The Blues are going to the second round. Awesome.

Let's get some bullets up in here:

• I'm an eternal pessimist, but I felt like the Blues were going to win this game after the second period. The Sharks had that push and tried like hell to take the lead. They got one goal. When you spend that much effort on that, you're gonna burn out.
• Jamie Langenbrunner played his best game as a Blue. A lot of the youngsters looked timid in their first close out game. Not Langenbrunner. He looked faster than he has ever been, smarter than ever and better than ever. Great job by the old dude.
• Scott Nichol. Holy cow is this dude a player. What a spark plug.
  
• I don't care if Jaroslav Halak's ankle is healed by Game 1, Elliott is the man until he's not. What a showing by him tonight.
  
• Andy McDonald can hit the net on a spinning backhand from center ice. Brad Boyes is super jealous.
• The Sharks played a great series, but the Blues were the better team. I predict a lot of changes in San Jose this summer.
• Ken Hitchcock for president.
• The crowd was unreal. After being quiet most of the game, the crowd was just waiting to erupt. And oh boy did they. The last 8 minutes of the game wee as loud as I've ever heard it. Such a great atmosphere.
  
• What a victory for boring hockey, eh? If this is boring, than I'm a fan of boring hockey. Anyone who calls it boring is bitter over being eliminated.
• Should be a pretty happy birthday for Mr. Gallagher.

I'm outta bullets. Chime in in the comments with yours.

I'll leave you with a song. The Blues aren't done yet.