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MARCIOJOSESANCHEZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The San Jose Sharks' Joe Pavelski (8) celebrates with teammate Patrick Marleau (12) a er scoring against the Nashville Predators during the first period of Game 7in a Western Conference semifinal series Thursday in San Jose. ByCurtisPashelka BayAreaNewsGroup SAN JOSE San Jose Sharks for- ward Patrick Marleau carried the puck across the blue line and moved in on a 2-on-1 with Logan Couture. Marleau passed to Couture, got the puck back and roofed it over an outstretched Pekka Rinne, who proceeded to smash his stick on the post and skate away from his own net in utter disgust. It seemed like a fitting way to complete the most dominant Game 7 performance in Sharks franchise history. The Sharks overwhelmed the Nashville Predators from the start, and Marleau's goal 3:54 into the third put the finishing touches on a 5-0 win that put his team into the Western Conference fi- nals for the first time since 2011. The Sharks will play the St. Louis Blues in the conference final that starts Sunday in St. Louis. Couture had a goal and two as- sists and goalie Martin Jones fin- ished with 20 saves for his first ca- reer playoff shutout as the Sharks beat the Predators four-games- to-three in a series that saw the home team win each game. Cou- ture finished the series with a franchise record 11 points, eclips- ing the old record set by Igor Lari- onov set in 1994 in the first round against Detroit. Joe Pavelski and Joel Ward both scored in the first period, when the Sharks outshot the Predators 17-3, leaving no doubt that they had erased the disap- pointment of losing Game 6 in Nashville in overtime. Couture scored in the second period, taking advantage of a Shea Weber giveaway to score his seventh goal of the playoffs. Joe Thornton scored 32 seconds into the third period on a Sharks 4-on-1, as Couture's shot from the slot was stopped by Rinne before NHL PLAYOFFS SharksdemolishPredators5-0 San Jose moves into conference finals for first time since 2011 SHARKS5,PREDATORS0 Series: Sharks win 4-3. Up next: San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues, 5p.m. Sunday, TV on NBCSN. THESCORE By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA. Jason Day created a far better memory Thursday than his last round at the TPC Sawgrass. Not only was he 18 shots better, the world's No. 1 player tied the course record with a 9-under 63 that gave him a two-shot lead in The Players Championship. In a game that can defy logic, and on a course that can be per- plexing, Day had a simple expla- nation for bouncing back from last year's 81. "I'm playing a lot better than I was last year," he said. The 28-year-old Australian was in such control that he putted for birdie on every hole. He made half of them, and his longest par putt was 30 inches. "Tee to green was pretty decent — was actually really good — and then once I got on the green, I felt like I could hole everything," he said. It helped that there was hardly any wind on a steaming morning that made Sawgrass more vulner- able than usual. The wind began to increase in the afternoon and it made a big difference. Of the 40 rounds in the 60s, 29 of those were in the morning. Boo Weekley had the GOLF Daycards record 63, takes lead at Players By Eddie Pells The Associated Press MONTREAL Together, Russia and Kenya won 27 medals at the last Olympics in track and field. Their total at the next one could be zero. The Olympic hopes of the pow- erhouse teams from both coun- tries took serious blows Thurs- day after the World Anti-Dop- ing Agency delivered stinging rebukes to attempts to clean up their drug-addled programs. The WADA foundation board suspended Kenya's anti-doping agency after determining a new law passed there to combat dop- ing was "a complete mess." The agency also released new num- bers out of Russia showing that testing by independent authori- ties has decreased by more than two-thirds in the past year. "Disappointing and disturbing information," said Beckie Scott, the Canadian gold-medal cross country skier who chairs WADA's athlete committee. At the London Olympics, Rus- sia won 16 medals and Kenya won 11. At world championships last year, the Kenyans tied Jamaica OLYMPIC TRACK Russia, Kenya teams may miss Rio a er doping rulings By Carl Steward Bay Area News Group OAKLAND Break time, and boy, do the Golden State War- riors need it. They are just eight victories away from completing the greatest season in NBA his- tory, but at the moment, they're in no hurry to write those final chapters. After what Klay Thompson called "the closest five-game se- ries of all-time" against the Port- land Trail Blazers, the Warriors desperately need some down time both mentally and physi- cally, and they'll be getting it. It could be four days, it could be six, depending on the outcome of the Oklahoma City-San An- tonio series on the other side of the Western Conference bracket. But even at the expense of los- ing a little bit of their compet- itive edge, the Warriors were looking and sounding after their Game 5 close-out win Wednes- day night like a team that would be perfectly OK with the lon- ger amount of time to lick their wounds and re-energize their mental faculties. "Sometimes a lot of people worry about if that's going to make you rusty or not," said for- ward Draymond Green. "Usually if it does, that only lasts for a quarter, maybe a quarter-and- a-half. It's something you can bounce back from. But the rest, I think goes much further than the rust." Even a warhorse like Green admitted a respite is welcome, particularly after tweaking a left ankle sprain that has been bothering him of late. It may be particularly crucial for cen- ter Andrew Bogut, who strained a right adductor in the second quarter of Game 5 and did not return. MVP Stephen Curry, so brilliant in the final two games against the Blazers, also con- fessed his right knee is still barking a bit and he could use a little more R&R. And even with the players seemingly healthy, the grind of a 73-9 regular season and 10 play- off games on top of that cries out for a pit stop at the halfway point of their postseason quest after the stern test the Blazers delivered "Although we won 4-1, this felt like a knock-down, drag-out series, almost like we went to a Game 7," said forward Harri- son Barnes. "So just a chance to emotionally recharge, as well as the fact that we also have some guys banged up, this couldn't come at a better time." "Days off are much appreci- ated at this point, and we also need the days off to get some practice time in to tighten up some stuff, so it's going to be good for us," said center Festus Ezeli. The Warriors were completely off on Thursday and have a practice scheduled for Friday. At least one more day off could be in the offing, depending on whether the Warriors open the Western Conference finals on Monday or Wednesday at Ora- cle Arena. The only question is whether the mental or physical break is more significant. "The physical is definitely big for us right now," said Green. "But I think in regular cir- cumstances where everybody's healthy, the mental goes way farther. Like just the stress of knowing that I've got a game to- day, your entire day is stressful. NBA PLAYOFFS WARRIORS BADLY IN NEED OF REST TIME Golden State needs to recharge a er tough series with Portland BEN MARGOT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) is embraced by the Portland Trail Blazers' Gerald Henderson at the end of Game 5of a second-round playoff series Wednesday in Oakland. JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP The Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) congratulates teammate Stephen Curry (30) a er defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5of the second-round playoffs at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Wednesday. Golden State defeated Portland 125-121. WARRIORS PAGE 2 OLYMPICS PAGE 2 GOLF PAGE 2 SHARKS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, May 13, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1