Photo credit: Jeffrey McWhorter/Associated Press
By Pearl Allison Lo
Devin Shore scored the first and final goal for the Dallas Stars as he broke the third period tie at American Airlines Center on Thursday versus the San Jose Sharks.
Both teams scored in each period and went scoreless on the power play, the Stars 0-for-1 and the Sharks 0-for-3.
Dallas’ Tyler Seguin broke a 12-game goalless drought and San Jose’s Evander Kane ended an 11-game scoreless drought.
The Stars outhit the Sharks 24-9 and San Jose in turn outshot Dallas, 36-22. The Sharks had double-digit shots in each period, while the Stars were held to under 10 per period.
San Jose’s Joe Thornton became the 19th player to play in his 1500th NHL game and nearly re-tied the game with time winding down in the third period.
Sharks’ coach Peter DeBoer called it “a strange game” and captain Joe Pavelski commented on “shot blocking. We can be more desperate about our d-zone. There’s no question about our goaltending.”
Valeri Nichushkin passed back to his right, Seguin across and Shore shot up to his right to form somewhat of a triangle, as Dallas made it 1-0 at 8:57 of the first.
The red hot Timo Meier later tied the game up with his 12th NHL-leading goal. He shares this statistic with three others. Logan Couture made a short pass up ice in the left faceoff circle to Kevin Labanc, who made a sharp pass to Meier in the crease. Meier converted in the open spot to the right of goalie Anton Khudobin at 14:18.
In the second, the Stars turned the game into a 3-1 game with goals under a minute apart.
Seguin’s goal came when he intercepted Brenden Dillon’s pass to Erik Karlsson in the defensive zone at the top of the faceoff circles. Seguin followed by racing down the slot to score past goalie Martin Jones at 6:57.
Dallas’s third goal came when Jason Dickinson traded passes with Miro Heiskanen before passing to Gemel Smith, who tapped the puck over Jones’s right leg.
The Sharks got one goal closer at 11:17. Thornton made a sweet pass to Brent Burns who shot from the point. A kneeling Joe Pavelski then redirected the puck to make it 3-2.
30 seconds later, Radek Faksa received a four minute high sticking minor. San Jose had three shots on goal. Former Shark Roman Polak also blocked a shot.
San Jose broke even with the Stars for the second time at 7:46 of the third. Antti Suomela won the faceoff, sending the puck to Burns. Burns also made a sweet pass to Kane, whose shoulders dropped in relief after tallying.
For the final goal, Blake Comeau passed down ice to Dillon Heatherington. Karlsson blocked Heatherington’s shot, the puck rebounding to Shore, as he potted the puck at 14:13.
As the Sharks chased the game again, there were several close chances which Jones avoided, including a Mattias Janmar breakaway with 3:10 left.
With 1:03 left, Thornton got alone in front of Khudobin, but Khudobin closed the five hole as Thornton shot to make a crucial save.
Up Next: San Jose has scored three goals apiece in their last three games and are 2-1-0. All have been 4-3 games. The Sharks conclude their two-game road trip versus the Saint Louis Blues on Friday at 5 pm PT.
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