Dillon, Sharks extend Cup Final with Game 5 win

San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon will be keeping his own blog throughout the course of the Stanley Cup Final. Dillon will check in after games and on some of the off days in between games.
Here is Dillon's blog following the Sharks 4-2 victory in Game 5 on Thursday:
We had our families out here for Game 5. They all came out from San Jose. My sister and my dad are here. My sister was beyond pumped. She is driving back to Toronto where she goes to college now, but she was excited to be here for sure. A lot of the guys had their wives or girlfriends here.

It was huge having everyone come out here. It was such a huge game and having everyone together was important. Wives, girlfriends and family play such a huge role helping to get the guys prepared. For the guys with families, the wives take care of the kids, try to let the guys get some extra sleep. It's a full team effort, on and off the ice. For them to be able to share in this was huge.

That first period had more goals than any game so far. The first six minutes had four goals. It was just momentum swings. You know, we go up two and then an unfortunate penalty on Dainius Zubrus and it just snowballed and they tied it. Then we get the game-winner a few minutes later. It's so exciting to be on this end of things. That was our focus from the drop of the puck, to bring our best effort and throw our best out there and whatever happens, happens. To force a Game 6, to earn that Game 6, was the biggest thing.
I don't know what is up with Melker Karlsson right now. Another goal, the game-winner this time. He is en fuego right now. That's his spot on the ice. Tonight and last game, it's the same identical play. Pass out to him and a wrist shot. Whatever he is eating for a pregame meal or whatever else he is doing; we are not going to tell him to stop. This is such a depth game now, you need four lines, you need six defensemen, you have to have two goaltenders. We are going to need everybody for Game 6 and, hopefully, a Game 7 too.
On the way in tonight to the game, we were getting yelled it, we were getting that and everything from the Pittsburgh faithful. They are a passionate group of fans. It was unbelievable how loud Consol Energy Center was from warmups right through to the last whistle. It was pretty crazy. We are going back to the Shark Tank (SAP Center) and having our group of fans come out now and be behind us.

We wanted to ruin the party tonight. I'm sure if we were up 3-1 in the series, I'm sure we would be thinking the same things. Hey, I can win the Stanley Cup tonight. I want to share this with whoever might be in town. That was our goal to come in here and have that road mentality: win your next shift, win your next battle.
We carried that on from the drop of the puck and we finally got a lead and we were able to carry that on through the first and the second periods. It was nice to get on the board like that and get our feet under us. Now, it's going to be Game 6. It's not going to be easy, but hopefully we can get it back here for a Game 7.
We won this game because of Martin Jones. He has been there since Day 1 for us. I've gotten to know him real well since training camp. We live next to each other and we are able to get a bite to eat a lot. He's so focused and so on his game. For us, "Jonesie" is our rock back there. You don't want to depend on him too much, but when we have those breakdowns, he has been there and that has been huge for us.