They can allow a target to be placed on his uniform just in case teams want to send alphabetically and numerically challenged goons to hunt him down in games.

On Sunday, however, it was no goon going after Ott. It was none other than Joe Thornton, who didn't like the fact that Ott had tagged Sharks forward Milan Michalek with a hard hit early in the game.

"I didn't say much, so I don't know what happened," Ott said about his encounter with Thornton. "Joe is a competitive guy, throws his body around and scores big goals, and he didn't like me hitting one of his wingers. I only know one way to play and that's what I am going to do."

And on Sunday Ott was doing what he does best. Getting under the skin of the opposition, taking them off their game and drawing penalties. There was a lot of drawing penalties.

Thornton went after Ott and ended up with a minors for crosschecking and instigating, a major for fighting and a misconduct. Ott picked up two for charging and five for five fighting. A plus-12 if you will.

Once again, Ott had taken a top player off the ice in a game. But Ott wasn't finished. In the second period, Sharks tough guy Jody Shelley put the Stars on a seven minute power play when he went after Ott, picking up an instigator, a fighting major, a ten minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Ott didn't pick up an penalty minutes out of that one. A plus-27 on that one.

"They hate him," Stars goalie Marty Turco said of Ott. "This isn't WWE stuff, they really do hate him. Most of it is well-deserved. We don't care as long as he agitates and plays. He's been an important player for us this year."

And then Ott added one final dagger into the Sharks, scoring a goal off a two-on-one rush to seal the Stars' 4-2 win in the regular season finale for both teams. It was a fine finale to cap off what has been Ott's best NHL season so far.

Ott, who left the last game due to the flu, was able to make it back for this one and the Stars benefited. Some others were still out and the team was still able to put out a solid effort in what wasn't your typical end of the season sleeper.

"We showed we're professionals and have personal pride," said defenseman Mattias Norstrom. "We weren't going to take it easy on them and they did the same. We both showed up to battle."

They withstood a lot of rough stuff from the Sharks and rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win. They got a lot of solid efforts, including some big saves from goalie Marty Turco.

"We were honest in our individual preparation and honest in our team effort. To me that just means working hard," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "I was surprised it got as revved up as it did, but that's the way it goes."

The Stars, who had a rough month of March, ended the season with points in five of their last six games (3-1-2). Perhaps a little momentum as they head into next week's playoff series with the defending Stanley Cup champions.

"We are trying to work hard to elevate our game," said forward Stu Barnes, who scored a power play goal in the game. "We feel better about our game and we are ready to go play our best hockey. [The Ducks] are a great team and we have to be ready for a tight series."

"I think you are going to see a lot of those guys be ready to go for practice on Tuesday," Tippett said. "We are going to need all hands on deck."

"There's nothing Robi could have done differently other than just let him go. If we get to that point in hockey we ought to just say there is no hitting," Tippett said. "To me that was a byproduct of the festivities in the first period."

The NHL will review the hit.