The rivalry between the Stars and San Jose Sharks continues to
get better. For the third time this season, the two teams needed an
extra period to decide the outcome
— and this time the Sharks came out the winners. Logan Couture
scored a power-play goal at the 1:20 mark of overtime to give San
Jose a 4-3 victory and a little bit of vengeance for a shootout
loss on Monday to the Stars.
DALLAS
The rivalry between the Stars and San Jose Sharks continues to get better.
For the third time this season, the two teams needed an extra period to decide the outcome — and this time the Sharks came out the winners. Logan Couture scored a power-play goal at the 1:20 mark of overtime to give San Jose a 4-3 victory and a little bit of vengeance for a shootout loss on Monday to the Stars.
The Stars move to 18-10-3 for the season, good for 39 points, while the Sharks crawl a point closer at 16-11-5 (37 points).
The game was fired up from the start, and the Sharks put on a spirited attack, despite losing in Nashville on Wednesday. San Jose had a 43-18 edge in shots on goal, and peppered Stars netminder Kari Lehtonen, who returned from a four-game absence caused by back soreness.
Lehtonen didn’t have much of a chance to work slowly into the game, as Dallas took two penalties (one, a mistake by the officials) in the first seven minutes and handed the Sharks a 5-on-3 power play. Lehtonen and teammates Stephane Robidas, Karlis Skrastins and Steve Ott were able to kill the penalty, and even get a short-handed scoring chance for Jeff Woywitka, but the pace of the action led to an 11-3 San Jose edge in shots on goal.
The Sharks used that momentum to score a few minutes later when they came racing up ice in transition. Justin Braun took a shot from distance that Lehtonen couldn’t handle. Joe Pavelski then swooped in and flicked the rebound over to a wide open Devin Setoguchi for an easy shot into an open net.
Dallas came back and tied it on the power play as Brenden Morrow scored off a wonderful pass from Loui Eriksson. Eriksson grabbed a puck out of a pile and turned to head to the net. He found Morrow in the right circle, and Morrow put in his 10th goal of the season at the 19:09 mark.
Morrow and Eriksson both had electric games. Eriksson would later score on the power play to give Dallas a 2-1 lead in the second period, and then made an amazing spin-o-rama pass to the doorstep to James Neal at the 15:34 mark of the third period — but Neal’s shot clanked off the post.
Morrow, who broke his nose Monday against the Sharks, had 11 hits to go with his goal.
San Jose had its own heroes. Torrey Mitchell scored on a nice shot through a screen just 37 seconds after Eriksson gave Dallas a 2-1 lead in the second period, and then Setoguchi cashed in his second goal of the game when Jamie McGinn made a great play in transition to set a screen in front of Lehtonen.
Officiating was at the center of the game as fans reacted to several calls. Toby Petersen was called for delay of game when a clearing pass he shot clearly went off the helmet of a San Jose player in the first period. Steve Ott appeared to be interfering with San Jose goalie Antero Nittymaki on the Stars’ tying goal in the third period. And Morrow appeared to be tripped late in the third period on a call the refs decided not to make.
That was followed by Mike Ribeiro clearly high-sticking Dany Heatley and receiving a double minor for cutting Heatley’s lip. The Sharks scored quickly in overtime to take the victory.
Briefly:
Toby Petersen (hand) and Krys Barch (foot) were taken off IR on Thursday. Petersen played 9:21, while Barch was a healthy scratch {ellipsis} Dallas finished with 47 hits to 39 for San Jose.
— Story by Mike Heika, The Dallas Morning News
