After the Dallas Stars lost their first four meetings against the San Jose Sharks in the 2008-2009 season, and after losing 5 straight at home, including a loss to the Sharks a week ago, the Stars came out and finally got some offense going with the help of their power play, scoring 4 goals and defeating the Sharks in San Jose 4-1.
Dallas dominated the offensive tempo of the game from the first seconds of the opening period, playing a rough, physical play that San Jose decided to play along with. Similar to the Montreal game, San Jose got into a fight with their opponents early and came on the losing end. Brad Staubitz fought Krys Barch five minutes into the game, and a minute later Dallas rookie James Neal scored his 19th goal of the season off a rebound that Brian Boucher never saw to give Dallas the 1-0 lead. But San Jose got their first power play two minutes later, and Christian Ehrhoff shot the puck off Joe Thorton's stick which deflected past Marty Turco to even the game up 1-1. But there was no question as to who was in control of the tied game, as Dallas ended the first period outshooting the Sharks 13-5.
With 9 seconds left in the first, the Sharks and the Stars had a meeting in front of Turco after the play was whistled dead. Darryl Sydor was handed a 2 minute penalty for roughing, but the biggest call came when Joe Pavelski was tagged with a game misconduct and 5 minutes for an intent to injure, after Sydor told the referees that Pavelski head butted him. Video replays showed that there wasn't even an attempt to head butt by Pavelski, but the referees bought it and ejected him from the game. San Jose then had to kill off a 3 minute power play given to the Stars after skating the first 2 minutes of the second period 4 on 4, but Rob Blake took a cross-checking penalty, putting San Jose down by two skaters. The Sharks almost killed the penalty off, as Boucher made key stops and the Sharks had a couple of clears, but with less than 10 seconds left in the 5 on 3, Mike Modano shot a one-timer past the glove of Boucher to give the Stars the lead back 2-1. The goal would be the eventual game-winner.
The penalties were mostly going against the Sharks, as Dallas was given 8 power play opportunities, but near the end of the second San Jose finally got some calls. They started the third period with 30 seconds on a power play that carried over from the last minute of the second period, and had 4 quality shots on goal. But Marty Turco stopped them all, and 6:32 into the third, Brian Sutherby carried the puck from behind the San Jose net and over Boucher who was trying to cover the corner from a wrap-around attempt. A little over a minute later, Neal one-timed a pass from Modano past Boucher's glove for his second goal of the game to make the score 4-1 Dallas. The Stars then played defensively for the rest of the game. The Sharks had a late power play to potentially put themselves back in the game, but Dan Boyle took a bad cross-checking penalty out of frustration 13 seconds into the San Jose power play to negate any chance at a comeback.
For the first time all season, the San Jose Sharks lost two games in regulation in a row. Both teams were battling with injuries, but San Jose most recently lost two key grinders over the trip back home. Mike Grier had surgery on his knee while Jeremy Roenick reaggravated his shoulder, and both players are expected to be out for the rest of the regular season, but are reportedly going to be ready for the playoffs. Claude Lemieux was a healthy scratch from the game. The NHL will undoubtedly take a second look at Joe Pavelski's penalty, but no suspension is expected because there was no headbutt during the incident, only some pushing and shoving. Dallas's only power play goal in 8 attempts came on the 5 on 3, but San Jose has now allowed a power play goal in 9 straight games. San Jose was outshot 25-31, and with the loss dropped to 13-2-1 when being outshot by their opponents. The Sharks have not scored more than 2 goals in their past 5 games. Brian Boucher got his third straight start after Evgeni Nabokov had to sit out the last two games, including this one, with the flu. With a Boston loss and a Detroit win, the Sharks are still tied with the Bruins for the top spot in the league with 93 points, but their lead over the Red Wings is now only 1 point. San Jose's next game is at home Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild, who resigned their top goaltender Niklas Backstrom today as they push for one of the last playoff spots in the Western Conference.
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