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Sharks welcome Stars for Game 1 of West semis

Fri 25th, April 2008

(Sports Network) - The second-seeded San Jose Sharks will begin the second round tonight, as they host the rival Dallas Stars at HP Pavilion in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Sharks just ended a grueling seven-game series with the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, as they notched a 5-3 home victory in Game 7. San Jose came into the postseason as the Pacific Division champs and was a heavy favorite against Calgary.

Meanwhile, the fifth-seeded Stars pulled off an upset in the first round, as they defeated Anaheim in six games, ending the Ducks' chances of repeating as Stanley Cup champions. Although Anaheim was just one seed higher than Dallas, the Ducks were expected by just about everybody to go deep into the postseason. On the other hand, the Stars, despite posting 97 points this year, were supposed to be handed their fourth straight first-round exit.

The regular-season series between Dallas and San Jose was extremely close with each team winning four games. Dallas has won both of its playoff meetings with the Sharks, with the most recent win coming in five games during the 2000 conference semifinals.

Home-ice advantage is always important in the playoffs, even for San Jose, which was better on the road than at the Shark Tank this season. The Sharks had a solid 22-13-6 record as the hosts, while Dallas was 22-14-5 as the visiting club.

The teams will remain in Northern California for Game 2, which is scheduled for Sunday night.

San Jose has been pegged as playoff underachievers in recent years, and it's hard to dispute that claim. After reaching the Western Conference finals in 2004, San Jose has been bounced out in the second round in back-to-back seasons.

However, the Sharks were the NHL's hottest team in the second half of the season, posting an 18-0-2 stretch at one point.

The biggest reason for San Jose's status as a Cup contender is the presence of the NHL's premier playmaker in centerman Joe Thornton. The 2005-06 Hart Trophy winner had another excellent season with the Sharks this year, posting 96 points (29 goals, 67 assists) while playing in all 82 games. All told, Thornton has notched 302 points in 222 games with the Sharks after being traded by Boston early in the 2005-06 season.

Thornton had a solid first-round series against the Flames, posting two goals and five assists.

The Sharks displayed a balanced scoring attack in the opening round, as five players on the team notched five or more points against Calgary.

San Jose also had a surprise star in Game 7, as 38-year-old forward Jeremy Roenick notched two goals and two assists in the decisive contest. Roenick, who has 509 career goals, is trying for his first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

San Jose's goaltending situation during the regular season was never an issue, as Evgeni Nabokov turned in the finest season of his NHL career and was nominated for the Vezina Trophy as a result. However, Nabokov struggled in the opening round, stopping just 145-of-162 shots en route to an .895 save percentage and 2.45 GAA against the Flames.

Dallas has made it to the conference semifinals for the first since 2003, when it lost to Anaheim. The Stars will now try to get into the West finals for the first time since losing to the New Jersey Devils in the 2000 Stanley Cup finals.

Marty Turco was huge for the Stars in the series against Anaheim, as he went 4-2 with a 2.01 goals against average and .912 save percentage. Turco also reached the scoresheet with an assist.

The 32-year-old Turco was once considered to be a liability in the playoffs, but has quieted that talk with back-to-back solid performances in the postseason. Last year, the Stars were ousted in the first round in a seven- game series against Vancouver, but Turco was the best player for Dallas in that set as he tied an NHL record with three shutouts in one playoff round.

The Stars also displayed tremendous scoring depth in the opening round, as they had seven players with five or more points against the Ducks. The offensive balance helped Dallas have the best power-play in the first round, as it scored on 26-percent (10-of-38) of its opportunities with the man advantage.

Mike Ribeiro led Dallas with 83 points during the regular season and paced his club again in the first round with eight points (2g, 6a).

Mike Modano, the all-time leading scorer among U.S.-born skaters, also had a strong series against the Ducks with two goals and four assists. The 37-year- old Minnesota native is the Stars' all-time leading playoff scorer with 139 points (55g, 84a) in 162 games.

Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov has been out since late January with a sports hernia, but has begun to skate with the team and is questionable for tonight's game. Zubov, who has 111 points in 153 career playoff games, has won two Stanley Cup titles, one with the New York Rangers in 1994 and another with Dallas in '99.

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