SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brendan Morrow scored his second goal of the night at 4:39 of overtime to seal Dallas' 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals at HP Pavilion on Friday night.
Milan Michalek scored his first goal of the postseason at 4:50 of the first period to give the Sharks the early lead and
Jonathan Cheechoo notched the game-tying goal with three minutes remaining to force the game to overtime. However, as they had done in seven of the last eight games in San Jose, the Stars deafeated the Sharks at HP Pavilion.
Sharks Head Coach Ron Wilson used the same lineup that clinched Game 7 in Round 1. Opposite
Evgeni Nabokov was Marty Turco as would be expected for the entire series.
San Jose was buzzing the net from the opening faceoff.
Douglas Murray began the physical play early with a ferocious hit on Jere Lehtinen. Then his defensive partner
Brian Campbell broke up a two-on-one rush by diving to intercept a pass.
Strong skating by Michalek and
Joe Thornton resulted in the game’s first penalty 9:16 into the first. Michalek began the play by skated into the zone with speed and when he lost the puck near the goal line, Thornton came out with possession on the other side, but was held before he could get a shot off. The power play was quickly wiped out when
Craig Rivet was called for goaltender interference seconds into the advantage as he crashed the net looking to poke home a rebound.
Murray continued his presence known with two more big hits. He was not alone in the category and Rivet had thrown his body around several times as well.
With the Stars on their first power play, they were still without a shot with less than five minutes to go in the first. Dallas did finally manage to crack the shot clock with 3:35 left in the first, but the power play was turned away.
With 2:08 left in the first, the Sharks were circling Turco and, in the scrum for the loose puck, Mattias Norstrom was sent to the sin bin for hooking
Jeremy Roenick. Dallas killed off the remaining penalty to keep the game scoreless in the first.
Despite outshooting the Stars 10-2, San Jose could not find the first period lead.
San Jose would crack the goose egg on the scoreboard early in the second and it couldn’t have come for a better person. A pass through the slot by
Brian Campbell found Michalek to the left of Turco. Michalek held his shot for a moment and then put it on net. The save was made, but as Cheechoo as hunting for the rebound, the puck trickled across the line.
Dallas would quickly respond with just 1:16 running off the clock. While on the power play, Mike Modano uncorked a bomb from the blueline that found the back of the net.
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| San Jose Sharks right wing Jonathan Cheechoo (14) is congratulated by center Torrey Mitchell (17) after scoring a goal on the Dallas Stars in the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Western Conference semifinal series, Friday, April 25, 2008, in San Jose, Calif. The score tied the game to put into overtime. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) |
At the 10:51 mark of the second, Dallas would take their first lead of the series. Working the puck on an extended shift deep in the Sharks zone, a wraparound attempt by Mike Ribeiro sailed through the crease and Stars Captain Brenden Morrow was there to slam the puck into the empty half of the net.
Team Teal attempted to respond right away, but despite several strong shifts and a Marleau shot that hit the post, San Jose would still trail by one.
With one minute to go in the second, San Jose was searching for the tying tally and the Sharks would earn a power play when Stephane Robidas hooked Thornton.
San Jose would carry 1:05 of power play time into the second in order to try and eliminate the 2-1 deficit.
The remainder of that power play would not bear fruit, but impressive work behind the net by Thornton forced Modano into a penalty, however, the Sharks could not connect that time either.
As the clock moved under five minutes, the Stars were content to keep dumping the puck in and had only posted three shots in 17 minutes of action. San Jose would not stop pressing though and found the equalizer with just 3:02 left in regulation.
A
Joe Pavelski shot was sitting in the crease and Cheechoo forced his way to the area and pushed it across the line, tying the game at three.
San Jose would have to face a difficult penalty kill with 2:21 left when Campbell was given a two minute minor for interference. Luckily, the Sharks were able to escape without allowing a goal and the game was sent to overtime.
Four minutes into overtime, the Stars capitalized with the game-winning goal. Morrow scored on an uncontested shot at 4:39 to give Dallas a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinal series.
LINES
Marleau-Pavelski-Clowe
Michalek-Thornton-Cheechoo
Rissmiller-Mitchell-Grier
Roenick-Goc-Setoguchi
Murray-Carle
Ehrhoff-Vlasic
Carle-Rivet
Nabokov-Boucher
From the AP Wire
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Even in the playoffs, Brenden Morrow and his "San Jose Stars" still rock the Shark Tank.
Morrow scored his second goal of the night 4:39 into overtime, and the Dallas Stars opened their second-round series with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night.
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| San Jose Sharks left wing Milan Michalek, left, of Czech Republic, is congratulated by center Joe Thornton, right, after scoring past the Dallas Stars in the second period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Western Conference semifinal series, Friday, April 25, 2008, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) |
Mike Modano also scored, while Marty Turco made 25 saves in the Stars' seventh win in their last eight trips to Silicon Valley. They've thoroughly dominated the Pacific Division champion Sharks here for two years, leading Modano to jokingly rename his team after their sixth straight win in January.
Jonathan Cheechoo scored the tying goal for San Jose with 3:02 left in regulation, but the Sharks' defensive sloth allowed Mattias Norstrom to whip the puck across the ice to Morrow early in OT. The Dallas captain scored easily against an off-balance
Evgeni Nabokov, who finished with 16 saves.
Game 2 is Sunday night at the Shark Tank, with Game 3 in Dallas on Tuesday.
Morrow has five goals - already two more than his previous career postseason high - in seven playoff games.
After eliminating defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim in the first round, the fifth-seeded Stars rallied from a two-shot first period and an early deficit to take away home-ice advantage from the division rival Sharks, who needed seven games to put away Calgary in the opening round.
Milan Michalek scored an early goal for the second-seeded Sharks, who blew Game 1 for the second straight series. San Jose again endured special-teams struggles while taking a handful of careless penalties and struggling to generate offense against the Dallas trap.
The Sharks reached the second round for their NHL-best fourth straight season with a seven-game victory over Calgary. Meanwhile, Dallas ended a streak of three straight first-round defeats by eliminating the Ducks in impressive fashion.
Both teams came out cautiously for their ninth meeting of the season. The Stars didn't get their first shot of the game until late in their second power play with 3:36 left in the first period.
Michalek, who went scoreless in the Sharks' first seven games against Calgary, got credit for their first goal when his shot trickled underneath Turco midway through the second period. Modano, who scored four goals in four trips to San Jose during the regular season, tied it with a power-play goal 76 seconds later, putting a one-timer through traffic.
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| Dallas Stars left wing Brenden Morrow, bottom, celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal past San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov, of Kazakhstan, top, and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, center, in overtime of Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal playoff hockey series in San Jose, Calif., Friday, April 25, 2008. Dallas won, in overtime, 3-2. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) |
Morrow then scored on a rebound of Ribeiro's shot for his team-leading fourth goal of the postseason. The Sharks couldn't break through until Cheechoo, the goal-scoring specialist who also tied Game 4 against Calgary with a remarkable late score, banged home
Torrey Mitchell's rebound of
Matt Carle's shot for his fourth goal of the postseason.
Dallas had a power play in the final 2 1/2 minutes of regulation, but couldn't score.
The clubs split eight meetings during the regular season, with each winning its first three trips to the other team's building before two late-season home victories. The Sharks and Stars racked up 160 penalty minutes in the regular-season finale 19 days earlier, with several fighting majors in both clubs' most-penalized game of the season.
Though they were even against each other, the clubs finished the regular season on opposite trajectories. San Jose trailed the division-leading Stars by 11 points on Feb. 29, but a 20-game string without a regulation defeat catapulted the Sharks past Dallas to the Pacific title.
Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov was scratched again despite rejoining workouts this week. Zubov, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, hasn't played since Jan. 17 because of a sports hernia.
Notes: Both clubs played their first overtime game of the postseason. ... Dallas' Shark Tank winning streak ended with San Jose's overtime victory March 27. ... Modano became the NHL's leading American-born scorer with two goals in San Jose on Nov. 7. C
Jeremy Roenick, who scored four points Tuesday in San Jose's clinching win over Calgary, is second on that list. ... San Jose played its third straight game without D
Kyle McLaren, who has a groin injury.
San Jose Sharks Staff
Associated Press
