SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks are going to finish their silver anniversary season chasing that big silver chalice.

The Stanley Cup Final is coming to San Jose.

"It's pretty neat to get this done at home," Sharks forward Joe Thornton said. "Fans have waited pretty long -- 25 years. It's a great feeling."

Joel Ward scored two goals and Martin Jones stopped 24 of 26 shots as the Sharks eliminated the St. Louis Blues with a 5-2 win in Game 6 on Wednesday at SAP Center.

"It's just disappointing," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "There are a lot of guys here that have put in a lot of years, to come this close is disappointing. You can appreciate (our season) and accomplished a lot this year but it was a pretty quiet room."

By virtue of winning the Western Conference title, the Sharks advance to their first appearance in the NHL's ultimate series. San Jose will open the Stanley Cup Final against the winner of Thursday's Game 7 between Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

"You dream of getting the chance to play for this," Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. "We know we've got one more step to take to really let loose."

Coming off of a 2014-15 season in which the Sharks missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, San Jose rallied around the Christmas holidays to finish third in the Pacific Division with 98 points.

And, unlike a number of times over the last decade when expectations ran high for San Jose, the club basically flew under the radar heading into this spring's 16-team party. Series wins over Los Angeles in five games and Nashville in seven set the Sharks up to their fourth conference championship series.

And this time, after three past failures, they didn't disappoint.

"It's huge for the people who have been here for so long," said forward Joel Ward, one of a number of key additions that helped put the Sharks over the top. "This is an unbelievable accomplishment for sure."

"It's a great night for those guys," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer added.

Despite losing the series opener, San Jose won four of the last five in impressive fashion. The Sharks utilized four forward lines that provided speed, a relentless forechecking attack, balanced scoring and contributions from their big-name stars to oust St. Louis.

"They were committed a little bit better than us," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Their forwards really worked and put a lot of pressure on us from the backside -- constant pressure. They had the energy to play that way. We made some tired decisions late in games, late in periods, late in shifts that we hadn't made."

Ward scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the playoff series at 3:01 of the third period by deflecting a Logan Couture feed past Blues goalie Brian Elliott.

Rookie left winger Joonas Donskoi iced it with his fifth goal of the playoffs at 8:11 by converted another Couture pass. And Couture capped a three-point night with an empty-net goal with 19.7 seconds left.

The Blues snapped Jones attempt at a third shutout of the series when St. Louis' regular-season leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko finally registered his first point of the series with a goal at 11:39 and scored again with an extra attacker at 16:25.

"We didn't want to go to Game 7," DeBoer said. "I think we recognized the dangerous team they are. History has proven you want to finish these series' as fast as possible and get as much rest as possible. I think mission accomplished."

The Sharks scored single goals in each of the first two periods. Joe Pavelski beat Elliott with a backhand wrap-around at 3:57 of the first after Thornton fired high on a mini-break, but chased down the loose puck to feed the Sharks' captain.

Ward gained inside position on Pietrangelo to redirect a soft wrist shot by Sharks defenseman Brent Burns from the right point past Elliott at 5:02 of the second period.

"They are a great hockey team," Blues forward Troy Brouwer said. "They got pucks deep on us and forechecked the (heck) out of us. It was tough for us to get out of zone clean. It's a tough way to start a game where you need to win."

While the Sharks didn't convert on any of their three power plays, they never went short-handed in the game.

"We need to appreciate how far we've come, how hard we've worked and the way that we've played," Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said. "Everyone's ecstatic."

DeBoer complimented St. Louis' effort in the series, and served a warning to his team as well.

"I told the group, I've been this far once before and as great a night as this is if you don't win the next round it's still not a great summer," he said. "We'll enjoy this tonight but we'll turn our focus to the big prize on Friday."

NOTES: In addition to G Brian Elliott returning between the pipes in Game 6, RW Scottie Upshall replaced RW Magnus Paajarvi up front for the Blues. Paajarvi played the previous three games, his first appearances in the postseason, and had one assist. Upshall, a healthy scratch since Paajarvi returned, had one goal and three points during St. Louis' first 16 playoff games. ... LW Matt Nieto missed his seventh straight game with an upper-body injury. ... San Jose RW Joe Pavelski has a seven-game point streak (five goals, five assists). Pavelski leds the NHL in playoff goals with 13 while teammate C Logan Couture leads in points with 24. ... C Steve Ott, RW Ty Rattie, C Chris Butler, D Peter Harrold, D Robert Bortuzzo, D Petteri Lindbohm, RW Ryan Reeves and Paajarvi were healthy scratches for the Blues. ... C Micheal Haley, D Dylan DeMelo and D Matt Tennyson were San Jose's healthy scratches.