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 Fellow pivots Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski contributed two
assists each and goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 37 of 39 shots for
the Sharks (30-22-8).
"I thought we played pretty smart," Niemi said. "We didn't give them
odd-man rushes. We were smart."
Dallas trailed 3-0 early in the third period and the Stars cut it to
3-2 when left winger Erik Cole scored with 2:16 remaining in
regulation. However, the Stars couldn't find the equalizer even
after pulling backup goaltender Jhonas Enroth with 1:35 remaining.
"I thought when we got up 3-0, we focused so much on that area of
the game that we took our foot off the gas a little bit and then
they got some momentum on their power play," Sharks coach Todd
McLellan said.
The Stars got two assists from captain Jamie Benn and a goal and an
assist from defenseman Trevor Daley.
San Jose got empty-net goals from left winger Patrick Marleau and
center Tommy Wingels late to ice the victory.
San Jose (30-22-8) led 1-0 after one thanks to a goal from
defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic 3:24 into the game. Vlasic was
streaking to the net and poked a pass from center Logan Couture into
the top right part of the Dallas net to give the visitors the early
edge.
 It was Vlasic's seventh goal of the season and first since Jan. 6 at
Minnesota, a span of 14 games.
"Yeah, that's always what you want to do, create some momentum and
get that first one and put the other team on their heels," Vlasic
said.
The Sharks doubled their lead early in the second when a Hertl wrist
shot from the right circle deflected in off Desjardins' stick 3:38
into the middle frame.
"I think I just kind of got lucky," Desjardins said. "I kind of lost
it for a second and it hit my stick and went in. It was a great shot
by Hertl. It might have been going in either way. I don't think he
(Lehtonen) saw it."
Desjardins added a second tally at 6:14 with a wrist shot from the
right point that sailed in under the blocker of Stars goaltender
Kari Lehtonen, who didn't see the shot until the last moment.
That goal ended Lehtonen's night as Enroth replaced him in net.
Lehtonen stopped 14 of 17 shots prior to departing.
"I don't think any of those goals you can fault Kari (Lehtonen),"
Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "The second one hit the shaft of a
stick, and he was screened on the third one."
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Dallas (27-23-8) answered at 8:00 of the second period when Daley
scored his 15th goal of the season with the Stars on the power play.
Niemi turned away the initial shot from Benn, but an opportunistic
Daley was buzzing around the far post and poked the puck in for his
sixth power-play goal of the season.
"We just didn't have enough to get it done," Daley said. "We had
umpteen chances on the power play. We just didn't get it done
tonight, which is unfortunate."
Cole made it 3-2 with his 16th goal of the season as he buried a
wrist shot from the slot following a pass by Benn from behind the
San Jose goal.
Marleau scored his empty-netter with 1:05 remaining and Wingels with
54 seconds left in regulation.
Enroth stopped all nine shots he faced in relief.
"We're going to move on," Benn said. "We can't be dwelling on this
one."
NOTES: The Sharks scratched C Barclay Goodrow, D Mirco Mueller and
LW John Scott. ... The Stars scratched D David Schlemko and RW Ales
Hemsky (lower body). Schlemko was a healthy scratch for a ninth
consecutive game. ... D Brenden Dillon made his first appearance in
Dallas since being traded to San Jose in November. ... D Jason
Demers, traded to Dallas for Dillon, faced the Sharks for the first
time since the deal. ... Scouts from the Blues, Devils, Ducks,
Flames, Kings, Lightning, Panthers and Senators were in the press
box. ... Stars LW Brendan Ranford, nephew of former NHL G Bill
Ranford, became the fifth player to make his NHL debut for Dallas
this season, joining D Jyrki Jokipakka, D John Klingberg, LW Curtis
McKenzie and RW Brett Ritchie. ... San Jose plays the Los Angeles
Kings in an outdoor game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.,
on Saturday. Dallas plays host to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
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