Saturday, May 3, 2008

San Jose Sharks 3, Dallas Stars 2 (OT)

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

At points Friday night the Dallas Stars seemed to be on their way to closing out the San Jose Sharks, but a couple of video reviews, a Sharks rally in the third period and goal by San Jose forward Joe Pavelski 1:05 into overtime added up to a 3-2 loss and meant a Game 6 in the series Sunday night in Dallas.

"We're still the team that needs one to win it and they are the team that needs two," Stars defenseman Mattias Norstrom said. "They came out hard and won it. The series has been exactly like this all along."

Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen scored goals for the Stars, who still lead 3-2 in the series and will get a chance to close out the series at the American Airlines Center on Sunday.

The Sharks, who once trailed 3-0 in the series, have cut that lead to 3-2 thanks to a third period rally where they scored twice to overcome a 2-0 Dallas lead and then got the overtime winner from Pavelski.

"We're not ready to go home," said Sharks center Joe Thornton. "We stuck with it and played hard, and good things happen when you go to the net and play hard. We got rewarded for that tonight."

In overtime Pavelski picked off a pass by Antti Miettinen along the left boards in the Dallas zone, skated across the ice to the right circle and beat Stars goalie Marty Turco with a wrist shot.

"I tried to pump fake and tried to get him to drop a bit and kept pushing it and pushing it," Pavelski said. "It is really the only shot I have as a shooter coming around like that. If he moves at all it is going to open up."

The Stars lost two Morrow goals in the game to video reviews in the game. One appeared to be a legitimate call, but the other - where officials ruled Morrow used a distinct kicking motion to direct the puck into the net - was highly controversial.

"Our team battles through adversity, but those were two critical points of the game," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I still haven't seen a distinct kicking motion, but I suppose somebody else did. The other one, I agree with the call ... but if Brenden Morrow isn't cross-checked in the back, he would have put the puck down and in the back of the net. Those are two critical plays in the game, and you have to find a way to overcome that."

Those two goals would have both extended the Stars' lead, which they established after the two teams played a scoreless first period. The Stars scored on their second power play chance of the game at 6:14 of the second period to take a 1-0 lead. Mike Modano sent a pass from the right point to the left circle, where Sergei Zubov centered it to Lehtinen, who beat Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov five-hole.

The Stars appeared to take a 2-0 lead at the 13:51 mark when a Mike Ribeiro centering pass banged off Morrow and into the net. But after a lengthy video review the league determined that it went off Morrow's skate and that there was a distinct kicking motion involved, which meant the goal was not allowed.

But Morrow made up for it late in the second, blasting the rebound of a Brad Richards' shot past Nabokov from the left circle with 56 seconds remaining in the period to extend the Stars' lead to 2-0 heading into the third period.

The Stars had another goal by Morrow waved off in the third period. This one, which would have made it 3-0, was disallowed because Morrow knocked it into the net with his hand. Morrow, standing at the top of the crease during a power play, was trying to knock the puck down to his stick, but it crossed the goal line before he could get his stick on it.

"I was going to knock it down and hit it in but the cross check pushed me into the net," said Morrow. "We have to move on and earn our breaks."

That left the Sharks down just two goals and they scored twice in under five minutes to tie the game. Their first goal came at the 6:20 mark when Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton won a puck battle behind the Dallas net and Milan Michalek knocked Thornton's centering pass past Turco at the 6:20 mark.

The Sharks got the equalizer when Jeremy Roenick sent a long pass to defenseman Brian Campbell, who slipped behind the Dallas defense and beat Turco with a perfectly placed blast from near the left circle at 11:07 of the third period.

"We said, 'Let's go out and throw out everything we have in the third period," said Roenick. "'Let's just empty the tanks and put out every effort we possibly have. If we do that then we'll have a shot."

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