Sharks not about to give up

While most people would think San Jose is going to need a bigger boat after dropping their first two games to the Blackhawks at the Shark Tank, the thinking out of San Jose is that this is a team that can still catch the head, the tail, the whole darn thing, beginning Friday night at the United Center when the Western Conference finals resume.

"Everybody thinks we're done," defenseman Dan Boyle said. "Nothing would make me happier than to come back and disappoint everybody because everybody thinks we're done."

"Nobody has confidence in us other than the guys in our room that know that we can get it done," veteran forward Scott Nichol said. "That's a good thing.

"We're a pretty dangerous animal when we've got our backs towards the wall, and that's the way we're approaching it."

That they do, though recent Stanley Cup playoff history backs up San Jose's bravado - a bit. Six teams since 1999 have fallen behind 0-2 on home ice and rallied to win the series.

Add to that the fact that the Blackhawks haven't been as much of a force at the United Center during the playoffs (3-3) as they were during the regular season and one could see why San Jose still has a glimmer of hope.

And that glimmer will only grow brighter if the Sharks can get off to a good start and quiet what should be yet another rowdy UC crowd.

"Going into their building, we saw what the first goal did to our hockey club (Tuesday)," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "Took some of the energy out of the building. Took a lot of energy out of our team. Took us awhile to get our heads up again, if you will, for lack of a better term.

"If we can have that start in their building, try and quiet everything down, play with some energy early, it certainly helps."

It certainly doesn't hurt that the Sharks are maintaining an air of confidence despite their tough start.

"We're a confident bunch in here," Nichol said. "We know what lays ahead of us. The old cliché, one game at a time. You're not going to win the whole series going back there. Shift by shift, game by game, go from there.

"We're a good team. We're confident. We didn't come first overall in the Western Conference by a fluke or luck. So we've got some skilled players, a good team - we just have to go by that."

But defenseman Rob Blake and others on the team are well aware that the rest of the world isn't betting on them staging some sort of remarkable comeback.

"No," Blake said. "That's for sure."