|
 Right winger Tommy Wingels scored at 1:52 of overtime on just the
team's fourth shot since the start of the third period to give the
hosts a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.
"Our forecheck was better tonight, creating opportunities, but still
not as many shot as we'd like," Wingels said. "Is every game going
to be 4-5 goals? No. But we can't have one or two for this long."
Searching for any sort of sustained attack after the opening period,
it came in sudden death as winger Marty Havlat made a nice pass in
front to set up Wingels on the game-winner. Veteran defenseman Scott
Hannan started the scoring sequence with a pass from the corner to
Havlat.
"We were lucky to get a point out of it," Dallas center Vernon
Fiddler said. "It would have been nice to get two, but they made a
play and we didn't."
Dallas tied the game on its 17th shot when right winger Valeri
Nichushkin one-timed a centering feed by defenseman Trevor Daley
past Sharks goalie Alex Stalock at 6:27 of the third period to cap a
chance-filled Stars' shift.
"They needed a goal, and they ended up getting one," Stalock said.
"But we got the last one, we needed it, and we got the two points."
The Sharks didn't record the first of their only two third-period
shots until left winger Patrick Marleau redirected a drive from
center Joe Thornton at 14:18.
"We've got more patience now and we can play down 1-0 for a while
instead of trying to rush things," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
"There are times we went right at it hard and got careless. The game
just slipped away on us."
Havlat scored his first goal since Dec. 17 late in the second period
to account for the only scoring in the opening 40 minutes.
After having put pressure on Dallas during the previous shift, left
winger James Sheppard fed Hannan at the right point. He fired a
shot-pass just off net where Havlat redirected the puck from the
edge of the left circle at 18:06 past Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen,
who had stopped the first 14 shots he faced.
"It feels nice to win the game, that's the most important thing,"
Havlat said. "It's nice to score goals."
[to top of second column] |
San Jose narrowly missed making it a two-goal lead inside the final
minute when an effort by Marleau got behind Lehtonen before cleared
by the Dallas defense.
Until that point, the Sharks played very much on the perimeter
during the middle period while the Stars, who won the night before
at Phoenix, seemed content to defend.
Each team had a failed power play in the second period.
The Sharks held a 9-6 edge in shots following an evenly played and
clean first period.
Stalock made the save of the period by going post-to-post to make a
diving glove save on left winger Jamie Benn, who one-timed a
goal-mouth feed from right winger Rich Peverley three feet off the
ice at 13:32.
"I thought Peverley was going to pass it on his backhand there,"
Stalock said. "It was kind of a desperation save. It would be nice
to make those saves a little easier. It's something to work on."
NOTES: RW Adam Burish made his season debut for San Jose after
missing the team's first 57 games. Burish had surgery for a
herniated disk suffered in the preseason opener Sept. 16. Signed to
a four-year contract before last season, Burish collected just three
points during 46 games last season, which was interrupted with
injury as well. ... LW Matt Nieto did not return after blocking a D
Trevor Daley shot at the horn of the second period. ... Dallas
concludes the pre-Olympic break portion of the schedule by hosting
Phoenix on Saturday. The Sharks cap a four-game homestand by
entertaining Columbus on Friday. ... Sharks RW Tyler Kennedy skated
in warm-ups on Monday, but suffered a setback and missed his fourth
straight game with a lower-body injury. Teammate D Jason Demers
missed his third straight with a groin injury. ... The Sharks
completed a minor league transaction beforehand, sending F Curt
Gogol to Minnesota in exchange for F Chad Rau. In a related move,
San Jose sent RW Riley Brace from Worcester of the AHL to the Iowa
Wild. ... Rookie D Matt Tennyson was San Jose's lone healthy scratch
while C Dustin Jeffrey and D Aaron Rome did not dress for Dallas.
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