SAN JOSE, Calif. – Among the myriad of reasons to love the Stanley Cup playoffs is the simple fact that no team ever flukes its way to a championship.

Four best-of-seven series stacked on top of each other is more than enough to identify the deepest, best group each spring. With that in mind, it felt a little strange heading west again on Friday morning given how tilted the ice has been throughout this Penguins-Sharks Stanley Cup Final.

It took a heroic goaltending performance from Martin Jones in Game 5 to extend the series – “I think our group’s whole motivation is to make all you guys get back on a plane and go back to San Jose again,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer had joked before Thursday’s 4-2 win – and so there is still reason for hope in the Bay Area.

The Penguins remain the heavy favourites, but San Jose is just one win at SAP Center away from forcing a winner-take-all Game 7.

Here are five reason why the Sharks still have a chance to shock the hockey world and win this series:

1. The masked men

Had Jones not outplayed counterpart Matt Murray by a fairly wide margin so far, they’d probably already be planning the parade in Pittsburgh. The Penguins hold a 179-119 shots edge during this series, but only have one more goal to show for their efforts. Jones has already seen 40-plus shots three times during the final and is showing no signs of cracking – with Thursday’s 44-save performance the most in regulation by a goalie during the Stanley Cup Final since Johnny Bower in 1967.

Conversely, San Jose has managed to be relatively opportunistic against the 22-year-old Murray, who hasn’t made more than 24 saves in a game since the Eastern Conference Final.

2. Star sighting

Logan Couture, Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski all scored their first goals of the series during the Game 5 victory. That’s a positive sign for the Sharks since those players have carried the bulk of the offensive load throughout these playoffs. Couture has a league-leading 29 points this spring, tying him for the fourth-highest individual total in the NHL’s salary cap era. No one has scored more than Pavelski’s 14 goals this post-season.

Continued success for San Jose is likely contingent on their offensive stars performing well and Couture, Burns and Pavelski should be feeling a little better about themselves now.

3. They’ve finally played with a lead

A lot of tension was released when the Sharks scored 1:04 into Game 5 – giving them their first in-game lead of the series. They also played ahead for the final 45:13, which had to be a good feeling after the mental grind of chasing the Penguins for so long beforehand. “It was a step in the right direction from a start point of view,” said DeBoer. “We have to continue to build on that.”

There is bound to be a little more belief on the Sharks side of things that they can get ahead and stay ahead. Perhaps the Penguins will be dealing with a touch of doubt, especially if San Jose manages to replicate the strong start and score first again in Game 6.

4. Power outage

The Sharks lethal power play has been extremely quiet in this series, which could be a positive depending on how you look at it. They are only 1-for-10 against the Penguins so far – a scoring rate that isn’t likely to hold over time. Even though the power plays have been few and far between for both teams during the Stanley Cup Final, all it takes is one opportunity and one big goal to shift the tide in a game.

The man advantage remains a strength for this San Jose team and a breakthrough becomes more and more likely the longer they stay alive.

5. A little home cooking

The Shark Tank is bound to be rocking for Game 6 on Sunday night. This is unquestionably the biggest game in franchise history – an oft-repeated idea this spring – and playing at home has suited the Sharks well this post-season with an 8-3 record. While they still need two wins to lift the Stanley Cup, the journey starts with one.

Few neutral observers believe they can do it, but the pressure will shift to the Penguins in a big way if San Jose manages to push the series back to Pittsburgh next week.