Friday, March 28, 2008

San Jose Sharks 3, Dallas Stars 2 (OT)

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

The Dallas Stars didn't win Thursday night in San Jose, but at least they got a point. Joe Thornton's five-on-three power play goal 2:58 into overtime gave the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 win over the Stars, whose winless streak hit five games (0-4-1).

The Stars, who played a strong game for most of the night, were plagued by some of the same problems that have cost them games during their recent slide. They failed to score in the third period and gave up a goal on a defensive breakdown that allowed San Jose to tie the game in the final 20 minutes. In overtime, two costly penalties, including a double minor on goalie Marty Turco, put the Sharks on a full two-minute five-on-three power play that led to the game-winning goal.

"We took a step forward and did some things very well," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "But mental mistakes are shooting yourself in the foot. That's been our M.O. lately. It bit us again."

Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen scored the goals and Mike Modano and Mike Ribeiro each had two assists for the Stars, who are now 1-7-1 in the month of March. Turco stopped 24 shots.

San Jose, which hasn't lost in regulation since February 20, pushed its points streak to 15-0-2 with the win and are 11-0-2 in March.

In overtime, Turco took a double minor for high sticking Sharks center Joe Pavelski that put San Jose on a 4-on-3 power play for the final 3:45 of the game and set the stage for Thornton's game-winner.

"I don't know what he was thinking. Protecting himself, I am not sure what he was thinking," said Tippett. "Those are just mental mistakes that have to come out of our game."

Said Turco: "We're all responsible for the things we do, and me in overtime there was nothing short of dumb."

The Stars got a great shorthanded chance when Sharks defenseman Brian Campbell fumbled the puck at the blue line and Modano got a breakaway. His first shot went wide and when he tried to stuff the rebound into the net, Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov was able get enough of it to keep it from keeping it to completely cross the goal line.

"I had him on the original one, but it just rolled off my stick," Modano said. "I thought I had him coming back, but it just missed."

A short time later, Stars defenseman Trevor Daley took a hooking penalty and the Sharks got the extra attacker to go on a five-on-three power play. Thornton sent a centering pass to the front of the net, where it bounced off traffic and into the net to give San Jose the win.

"It was a hard game for us, but a good game," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "We got the job done when we needed it against a very desperate, very talented team. Let's face it, until their goalie imploded in the end, I didn't know which way the game was going."

After killing off two San Jose power play chances in the first, the Stars got their first chance with the man-advantage with a little more than six minutes remaining in the first period and scored just six seconds after it expired. After Nabokov made a spectacular stop on a Modano blast, Morrow scored up the rebound and put it into the net at 15;59 of the first for his 30th goal of the season.

The Sharks got their fourth power play chance of the game when B.J. Crombeen took an instigator penalty for going after Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren, who had just rocked Dallas center Toby Petersen with a hard hit along the boards. San Jose cashed in when Pavelski took a cross-ice pass from Patrick Marleau and whipped the puck past Turco from the right faceoff circle at 3:48 of the second.

San Jose put on a strong push after that, but the Stars were able to stem the tide when they went on five-on-three with eight minutes remaining in the second and scored 29 seconds later when Mike Ribeiro set up Lehtinen, who scored from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.

Turco kept it a 2-1 game a short time later in the period when he stopped San Jose's Devin Setoguchi on a breakaway attempt.

San Jose drew even 6:08 into the third when Mike Grier, who was being covered by two Dallas defensemen, sent a backhand pass to a wide open Joe Thornton, who ripped a shot past Turco to tie the game.

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