| The last time the Sharks and Stars met it was the
Stars who were coming off a disappointing loss and had
some desperation in their game. The roles were reversed
for this meeting and the Stars couldn't match the
Sharks' desperation.
San Jose, smarting from three straight losses
including an 8-0 shellacking in Phoenix on Saturday
night, came out with all cylinders hitting.
"You know they are going to play a very desperate
game. It's our fourth game in six nights and we didn't
have the 'oomph' at the start," said Stars coach Dave
Tippett. "We got behind the eight ball and when you're
chasing you use a lot more energy than when you are
defending. We got ourselves behind early and we couldn't
get out of it."
The Stars were on the defensive early as the Sharks
swarmed the net in the first period and shelled goalie
Marty Turco, who came up with several nice stops. But
with Sharks everywhere and getting little help from the
guys in front of him, he didn't stand much of a
chance on the scrambles in front of the net.
The Shark scored three off Turco, including two off
the power play. The Stars penalty kill has now allowed
two goals in a game in four of the the last five games.
"We didn't get the kills that we
wanted to on the power play. We didn't really have the
response to their first goal we wanted. That wasn't what
we were looking for.," said Stars center Jeff Halpern.
"We knew we had to defend hard early and we
didn't get that accomplished," Tippett said. "We chased
the rest of the game."
Tippett tried to change momentum by changing to Mike
Smith, but he surrendered a goal on the first shot to
Joe Thornton and it was a 4-1 game.
After that the Sharks went into a defensive game for
the final two periods and held off the Stars.
Give the Sharks credit. They responded well after
Saturday night's debacle in Phoenix, where they were
thoroughly embarrassed.
They came out Sunday with a lot of energy, were
physical and won a majority of the puck battles. Their
best players - Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and
Jonathan Cheechoo - were their best players. Impressive
rookie Joe Pavelski set the tone with a hard working
goal 1:25 into the game.
The Sharks had meetings following Saturday's loss in
Phoenix the same way the Stars had a meeting following
the loss in Anaheim earlier this month.
"We had a lot to talk about, mainly about effort,"
Pavelski said.
And the effort was there for the Sharks. So was the
desperation. The Stars couldn't match it early and then
was when this game was decided.
"We have to play on the edge and we need to be ready
to play," Turco said. "I think we've been playing well
lately, but it's one of those nights where we are not
peaking with the intensity that we should, and that
comes back to haunt us."
The Stars will get a day off and then get back to
work as they get ready to hit the road for the always
challenging three-game swing through Western Canada. |
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