Monday, April 7, 2008

Dallas Stars 4, San Jose Sharks 2

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars regular season finale against the San Jose Sharks sure didn't look like one of those meaningless game with nothing at stake. It was a fight. Literally. The Stars and Sharks racked up some big penalty minutes in a 4-2 Dallas win Sunday afternoon at the American Airlines Center.

In all there were 160 penalty minutes in the game, 95 of them by the Sharks. San Jose forward Jody Shelley led the parade with 41 and was followed by center Joe Thornton, who picked up 19 when he went after Stars pest Steve Ott early in the game.

"He didn't like me hitting one of his wingers," Ott said of Thornton going after him. "I only know one way to play and that's what I am going to do."

Said Sharks defenseman Doug Murray: "When you get cheap shots, when guys are taking runs at us, we're not trying to prove we're tough but we've got to respond."

It served as a good tune up for the Stars' upcoming first round playoff series against the rough and tumble Anaheim Ducks.

"That was a little unexpected," said Stars defenseman Philippe Boucher. "The physical element will be a large part of what is coming up and we have guys that can do it and are willing to do it, can play hard, hit and fight."

Said Shelley: "It got heated. Once the playoffs start, all that stuff that happened today will be forgotten. Of course, if we play [Dallas] in the second round, it will all resurface."

Antti Miettinen, Stu Barnes, Mattias Norstrom and Ott scored goals for the Stars, who got a 32-save performance from Turco.

"We were honest in our individual preparation and honest in our team effort. To me that just means working hard," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "I was surprised it got as revved up as it did, but that's the way it goes."

The Sharks, who had been on a 20-game points streak, lost their final two games in regulation and will open the playoffs against the Calgary Flames.

"Our team responded really well and I was happy with the way we played," said Sharks head coach Ron Wilson. "I didn't trust that team, they were running at our guys."

There was a total of 105 penalty minutes handed out in the first period, including three fighting majors to each team, four misconducts and a major and game misconduct to Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas for checking from behind. That hit will automatically be reviewed by the league.

"There's nothing Robi could have done differently other than just let him go," said Tippett. "If we get to that point in hockey we ought to just say there is no hitting."

When Barnes took a four-minute high sticking penalty shortly after the call on Robidas, the Sharks got a lengthy five-on-three and cashed in when Patrick Marleau scored from the bottom of the right circle with 2:27 left in the first period.

There was another 47 penalty minutes in the second period and the Sharks took advantage of a power play when Jonathan Cheechoo scored from the right circle to give San Jose at the 5:46 mark.

But the Stars scored three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead by the end of the period. Brenden Morrow led the rush into the Sharks zone, sent a pass to Mike Modano, who set up a Miettinen one-timer from the slot that beat Sharks goalie Brian Boucher at 11:35 of the period.

Barnes drove the net from the wing off the rush and beat Boucher five-hole at 16:13 with Dallas on the power play to make it a 2-2 game.

And then with the two teams playing four-on-four and a penalty call coming on the Sharks, Toby Petersen set up a pinching Norstrom, who scored from close range with 13 seconds left in the period to give Dallas a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

"It was a great pass by Toby to set me up," Norstrom said. "We didn't have a lot going for us early, but coming back from two goals down, it's great to have that character in our team."

Notes: The Stars recalled Konstantin Pushkarev from Iowa, but he did not play in the game. The Stars were without Mike Ribeiro (flu), Jere Lehtinen (flu), Brad Richards (soreness) and Sergei Zubov (sports hernia).

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