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Sharks leap-frog Stars with
win Joe Pavelski's two goals paces SJ in 3-0
shutout
Joe Thornton may just have been right. San Jose's
captain said that the Sharks would need to win all four of their remaining
games in order to make the playoffs. With the competition in the Pacific
Division so tight, Thornton's comments are something the rest of the Sharks
will need to take seriously. They got off to a good start by putting together a
60-minute performance on Saturday night to knock off the Dallas Stars 3-0 at HP
Pavilion.
Thornton did his part by assisting on a pair of Joe Pavelski
goals and making a number of big defensive plays to help San Jose take the
front end of their home-and-home series with the Stars. Both teams will meet
again on Tuesday in Dallas, with the Sharks holding a slim one-point lead over
the 9th place Stars. The Colorado Avalanche loom another point behind the
Stars, but well within striking distance of the Sharks.
The Los
Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes both recorded points on Saturday and hold a
single-point lead on the Sharks. San Jose and Los Angeles will close out the
season with their own home-and-home series, but the Coyotes face three
non-division opponents. San Jose's win on Saturday night gives them a leg up on
Dallas, holding a 4-0-1 record against the Stars this season.
"I don't
know exactly the mathematical equation or what needs to be done," said Stars
captain Brendan Morrow. "But it's probably three wins or nothing for us. It's
nice to be able to get them again while the blood's hot a little bit, get a
little redemption. But, if we do the same thing we did tonight, we're not going
to have the success that we want."
Pavelski was the man of the hour on
the offensive side of the puck. The Sharks forward bagged his 30th and 31st
goal of the season to provide the Sharks with more offense than they would
need. His first goal opened the game's scoring just 58 seconds into the
contest. Pavelski ripped a one-timer past Kari Lehtonen from the slot after
Thornton set him up with a pass from the right wing boards.
Dallas
should have tied the game later in the period when Michael Ryder fired a puck
on a wide open net from the bottom of the left circle, but Sharks defenseman
Justin Braun got a stick blade in front of Ryder's shot to deflect it safely
out of harms way.
Steve Ott did the Sharks a big favor by taking an
interference penalty with 3:10 left in the period. San Jose converted on the
ensuing power play when defenseman Jason Demers deposited his 3rd goal of the
season past Lehtonen. The play was highlighted by the pass that Martin Havlat
made to setup the goal. Havlat sent a saucer pass from the right corner that
eluded the sticks of two Star defenders, hitting Demers on the tape on the far
side of the rink for the one-time chance.
Pavelski converted his
second goal of the evening midway through the 2nd period, deflecting a
Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot after positioning himself in front of Lehtonen.
Stephan Robidas was late to cover Pavelski, who became the Sharks goal scoring
leader this season with the tally.
While all of this was going on,
Antti Niemi quietly went about his business, earning his 6th shutout of the
season. The Sharks goaltender only faced 22 shots all night, but he stopped
everything and didn't get himself into trouble with hairy rebounds.
"We had to put more pucks on their net and create more
of some residual chances there," said Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan. "They had
a lot of jump and they did it to us, and they got that one early and it kind of
set us back. The early jump was kind of the difference."
The only
knock on the Sharks game came with 10 minutes remaining in regulation when the
Stars handed them 72 seconds of 5-on-3 power play time, but San Jose couldn't
capitalize. They couldn't even setup in the Stars zone, fumbling the puck
against three Dallas defenders.
The only good thing that came out of
the 5-on-3, was that it motivated Ott to pop off to the on-ice officials, which
earned him a 10-minute misconduct and an earl trip to the showers.
"We
still control our own destiny," said Gulutzan. "We don't need someone to beat
somebody else. We just need to win our last three games. Period."
McLellan could have essentially said the same thing.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
DAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
SJ |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
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1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 30 (Thornton), Marleau), 0:58. 2, SJ, Demers 3 (Havlat, Clowe), 18:38,
(pp). |
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2nd period - 3, SJ,
Pavelski 31 (Vlasic, Thornton), 9:39. |
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1st period - Garbutt,
DAL (cross checking), 4:35; Galiardi, SJ (hooking), 7:29; Sourey, DAL (high
sticking), 10:12; Ott, DAL (interference), 16:50. |
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2nd period - Mitchell,
SJ (hooking), 6:11; Fiddler, DAL (boarding), 8:56; Couture, SJ (goaltender
interference), 9:05; Dowell, DAL (fighting major), 12:42; Desjardins, SJ
(fighting major), 12:42. |
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3rd period - Garbutt,
DAL (roughing), 9:07; Garbutt, DAL (fighting major), 9:07; Mitchell, SJ
(fighting major), 9:07; Burish, DAL (slashing), 9:55; Ott, DAL (10 min
misconduct), 9:55. |
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Shots |
Saves |
DAL - Lehtonen |
34 |
31 |
SJ - Niemi |
22 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
DAL |
6 |
8 |
8 |
22 |
SJ |
12 |
15 |
7 |
34 |
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Referees: Peel, St
Pierre. Linesmen: Gibbs, Heyer. |
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