In the second round against the Colorado Avalanche, San Jose never trailed in the series but needed seven games to advance. That included a lost opportunity to go ahead 3-1 and later, to finish the series in six games.
"Yeah, you know, we haven't had a short one yet, so now it's a three-game series and we've just got to take care of business at home," defenseman Justin Braun said.
The Sharks were coming off an emotional, come-from-behind victory in Game 3 here, tying the game with 1:01 left in regulation then winning it at 5:23 of overtime with a goal from defenseman Erik Karlsson.
But with their chance to extend their lead in the series, the Sharks took almost a period to get going. By that time, the Blues had the two goals they would need.
"It didn't really cross my mind," captain Joe Pavelski said, asked if he was worried about any potential emotional hangover from Game 3. "There's a lot of emotion throughout the playoffs. We're in the conference final. We've got overtime wins. We've had Game 7s. We've had emotional games for sure.
"You just lace 'em back up for the next game and get ready to go and you compete. We understand momentum swings get reset each night and you've got to go and earn it. They came out with a good start."