The San Jose Sharks started another road trip after winning 3 games at home, hoping that their success would translate in Dallas after their last road trip gave them their worst 5 game record of the season at 1-1-3. The Dallas Stars wanted a bounce back win at home after losing to Chicago, as every point matters in the tight race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The match turned into a goaltender duel, as the game remained scoreless until midway through the third period, and it took Devin Setoguchi's 25th goal of the season to break the ice and win the game 1-0 for the Sharks.
The story of the game was the Dallas Stars. They controlled the offensive pace of the game, and outshot the Sharks 11-5 in the first period. A large part of their success was the stick-handling play of their goalie Marty Turco, who is well-known around the league for his ability to pass the puck to his defensemen to negate forechecking pressure. The Dallas Stars also played well defensively, blocking a large amount of shots to negate any offensive flow to the San Jose Sharks. But despite several quality scoring chances, Evgeni Nabokov stopped all shots headed his way, including several sprawling saves on his back.
Another contributor to the low scoring game was the absence of special teams play for both clubs. San Jose had no goals on 3 chances, and were very limited in the shots they took. Dallas had much better success in terms of generating chances on goal, but the San Jose penalty kill got the job done and shut down Dallas's power play 4 times on 4 opportunities, including one that came right after the Sharks took the 1-0 lead in the third.
Their game winning goal was generated off a great play by Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who dove onto the ice to disrupt a pass on a 2 on 1 rush by the Stars. The puck was recovered by the Sharks, who quickly brought the pass out to Ryane Clowe, who immediately passed it to Devin Setoguchi. Setoguchi was in full stride, got a step past the Dallas defender, and wristed a shot off the far side post past Turco's blocker to score the only goal of the game at 7:55 in the third period. Turco, who had been solid throughout the game, had little chance to stop the puck, as it was shot hard off Setoguchi's stick. Turco ended the night with 23 saves on 24 shots.
The win was the first road win for San Jose since they defeated Boston on February 10th. They were also welcoming back defenseman Brad Lukowich, who had been out with an injury since January 6th. The Sharks were still without the services of Marcel Goc and Torrey Mitchell. The Dallas Stars were suffering from much worse injuries, and it showed on the offensive side of the ice. They had been playing most of the season thus far without their top defenseman Sergei Zubov, who is out for the season. They also lost their captain Brenden Morrow, and recently lost Brad Richards, one of their top offensive producers. Mike Modano had stepped up in producing points for the Stars offense, but he sat out of the game against the Sharks because he had been suffering from the flu. The Sharks and the Stars were the only teams playing on Monday, which means Dallas will stay in 7th place for the time being. But their next game is Thursday night, giving two days for Minnesota, Anaheim, and Edmonton to possibly move a spot over the Stars in the Western Conference standings. San Jose's next game will be Wednesday night against the Detroit Red Wings, who they've both had success against and have been crushed by this season. The game will not have an immediate impact on the standings for either team, but a win for San Jose would extend their points streak over Detroit up to a margin of 7.
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