Blues can finish off Sharks in Game 5

Goalie Antti Niemi won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010 and has played well enough with a .912 save percentage. Joe Thornton and Logan Couture each has a goal and three assists, but Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski are scoreless.

"They have to find a way to get on the score sheet, and they've got a game to do that," McLellan said Friday. "For us to have success, our go-to players have to find a way."

The Sharks won a couple of must games last year in the playoffs. If they can take Game 5, some of the pressure shifts to the Blues.

"I don't think anybody believes we're going to do it, which is fine," forward Dan Boyle said. "It's going to be a tough task. We all know that. It's going to be a very difficult task, but it can be done. It's not impossible."