Brian Campbell scored the tying goal midway through the third period for the Sharks, who moved halfway to history by cutting the Stars' lead in the second-round series to 3-2. Dallas won the first three contests, including two overtime victories, but the clubs are headed back to Texas for Game 6 Sunday night after the Sharks' latest escape.
San Jose is just the fourth team in the last 20 seasons to stretch a series even to six games after trailing 0-3. As Sharks coach Ron Wilson has reminded his players, only two teams in NHL history have recovered from such dire circumstances to win a series: the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 and the New York Islanders in 1975.
Jere Lehtinen and captain Brenden Morrow scored second-period goals for the Stars, who controlled play and seemed headed for an easy evening at the Shark Tank, where they dominated the home team over the last two years. Morrow also had two apparent goals that were waved off by the officials, one for kicking the puck into the net and another for batting it with his hand.
The second-seeded Sharks, whose inconsistent brilliance has defined the NHL's second-best regular season, appeared listless before Milan Michalek and Campbell scored in a 5:47 span in the third period, with Campbell firing home the tying goal with 8:53 to play on an exceptional pass from Jeremy Roenick.
Pavelski ended it before some fans had even settled in their seats for overtime, dangling in the slot and beating Turco for an unassisted goal.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 24 shots for the Sharks, and Marty Turco made 19 saves in yet another playoff game to forget. Turco was working on a shutout before he and his defense allowed three goals in less than 15 minutes.
After holding off the defending champion Ducks in the first round, Dallas opened the second round with back-to-back victories at the Shark Tank, where the Stars were 8-0-1 in their last nine appearances before blowing Game 5. San Jose staved off elimination with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 in Dallas, the third of four one-goal games in this scintillating series.
Lehtinen got Game 5's first goal midway through the second period on a setup pass from Sergei Zubov for his fourth goal of the postseason. After Mike Modano rang a shot off the post moments later, Morrow appeared to score when he forced defenseman Matt Carle into Nabokov's crease and the puck deflected off them.
