>San Jose Sharks clinch No. 2 West seed with win

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Maybe it did take all 82 games, but the uncomplicated part is over.

The Sharks earned the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference at HP Pavilion on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes, playing the kind of hockey they hope will carry over into the Stanley Cup playoffs that begin this week.

The complicated part — whom the Sharks will face in the first round — remains to be sorted out Sunday with the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, Coyotes and Nashville Predators all a possibility.

“The intensity was there, and it was something we needed to experience this week so we can get ready for what lies ahead,” said coach Todd McLellan, whose team had looked uninspired for long stretches in losing its previous two games.

Goals by Ian White, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture provided the offense, but it was goaltender Antti Niemi, who made 35 saves while giving up a goal to Lauri Korpikoski, who earned much of the credit for the two points that gave San Jose 105 for the season.

“Was he good? When we made mistakes, he was there to make some tremendous saves,” McLellan said. “There’s not many nights on the bench where I turn to the coaches, and we’re all going ‘Wow!’ “

Had the Sharks lost, they would have had to wait until the outcome of Sunday morning’s game between the Detroit and Chicago to know their final spot in the standings, but the Red Wings can no longer catch San Jose for second place.

Now, if Chicago wins in regulation or overtime, the Sharks will face Phoenix. If Chicago loses in overtime, the Sharks will face the Blackhawks. If Chicago loses in regulation, the Sharks will face Los Angeles. And if Chicago wins in a shootout, the Sharks will face Nashville.

The No. 2 seed is significant only if the Sharks advance beyond the first round because it guarantees home ice in the next one.

The Sharks had struggled since clinching the Pacific Division title Monday night, getting blown out in Anaheim and dropping a 4-3 decision Friday night in Phoenix.

San Jose was also missing injured forward Ryane Clowe for a third consecutive game, with Benn Ferriero called up from Worcester to fill Clowe’s spot in the lineup.

The game was scoreless into the second period when White’s goal at 7:11 on a 52-foot one-timer capped a 57-second sequence that saw the Sharks put three shots on net, send two wide and had three others blocked.

“It seems whenever you get momentum and get some shots off, there’s a good chance you’re going to get the puck back,” White said. “It was a great momentum shift for us, and fortunately one of them went in.”

White had gone 21 games without a goal since being traded from Carolina in February, but had one in each of the past two games.

Pavelski’s power play goal at 18:37 of the second period from just outside the crease was his 20th of the season and enabled the Sharks to finish the season as the only NHL team with seven players to hit that mark.

Phoenix got on the scoreboard at 8:36 of the final period when Korpikoski blocked a shot by Jason Demers, then scored on the breakaway that followed, but Couture’s 32nd goal of the season on a power play at 18:29 assured the Sharks of their second-place finish.

The Sharks finished the past two seasons as the West’s No. 1 seed, reaching the Western Conference finals a year ago after being upset in the first round the previous season. Vancouver topped the conference this season.

“Going into the playoffs, we’re all excited about it,” McLellan said. “I think there’s less talk and less hype about our team, which will help us. We’ve experienced the Vancouver scenario — I have as a coach more than once — and that’s a tough one. We like where we’re at, and it’s up to us now to get ready and be prepared.”

From White’s perspective, it’s all good.

“I’ve been warming up for this for six years now,” said the well-traveled 26-year-old defenseman who will be seeing his first postseason action after 401 NHL games.

The victory was McLellan’s 152nd since taking over behind the San Jose bench, enabling him to tie Mike Keenan for most NHL wins by a coach over his first three seasons.

But that is one record that the Sharks coach considers less than meaningful.

“You’re asking me about a stat that’s really quite irrelevant when it comes to me, and I bet Mike Keenan would tell you the same thing,” McLellan said recently. “It’s different eras, the games are tracked differently.”

Seventeen of McLellan’s victories, for example, came in the shootout. When Keenan set the mark between 1984 and 1987, games that weren’t resolved in overtime ended as ties.

Annual team awards for 2010-11 went to Niemi as the Sharks MVP and Logan Couture as rookie of the year by a media vote. Patrick Marleau won the title of “fan favorite” in online voting.