Chicago Blackhawks right wing Dustin Byfuglien celebrates after scoring goal against the San Jose Sharks during third period hockey action in Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference.

CHICAGO — Jonathan Toews made sure he kept his hands off the prize, the gleaming Campbell Bowl given to the Western Conference playoff champions. The young Chicago Blackhawks' captain posed alongside it and then skated away.

"Some teams are all onboard with grabbing the trophy and saying, you know, the heck with it. But to me it's not being superstitious. It's just saying that we're here for bigger and better things," Toews said Sunday after the Blackhawks earned a trip to the Stanley Cup finals by beating the San Jose Sharks 4-2 for a four-game sweep.

"We're just happy about winning this round and moving on. That's what it's all about."

Chicago will make its first appearance in the finals since 1992 and play either Montreal or Philadelphia. The Blackhawks will be in search of the franchise's first NHL title since 1961, more than two decades before many of the current players were born.

"It's an honor to be going," said Dustin Byfuglien, who scored his third game-winner of the series Sunday and has emerged as a major force in the postseason.

"We beat a very good team over there," he said. "It wasn't easy."

Byfuglien also had the game-winner Friday night in overtime as Chicago captured Game 3, 3-2. He also put the Blackhawks ahead to stay with a goal in their 2-1 victory in the opener and scored a goal in all four of the Blackhawks' victories over the Sharks. He has eight goals in this postseason.

Chicago's depth is reflected by the play of Dave Bolland, who had goals in each of the final two games while playing relentless defense against some of the Sharks' top scorers, and the stellar goaltending of Antti Niemi, who surrendered only seven goals in the series.

"They seem very destined right now," San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. "They have a goaltender that's on fire. They're getting scoring not necessarily from their superstars, I mean that with all due respect to the Byfugliens, the Bollands, those type of players.

"They're doing the things they need to do to win."

The 257-pound Byfuglien was parked in front of the net with 7 seconds left on the power play. He took a nice pass from Patrick Kane and knocked the puck past Evgeni Nabokov to give the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead at 14:05 of the final period.

"I got my stick open in front of the net, and Kaner gave me a nice little feed," Byfuglien said.

Kris Versteeg added an empty-netter with 42 seconds to go.