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Morrow's OT winner lifts Stars over Sharks in West semi opener

Sat 26th, April 2008

San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Brenden Morrow scored 4:39 into overtime, as the Dallas Stars edged the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series from HP Pavilion.

In the extra session, Mike Ribeiro whipped a cross-ice pass to a pinching Stephane Robidas on the right side. Robidas held onto the puck, circled behind the goal before sliding the disc to Mattias Norstrom at the left point. The veteran defenseman then sent a pass to Morrow, whose one-timer from the middle of the right circle beat a scrambling Evgeni Nabokov on the short-side.

Morrow finished with two goals, while Mike Modano also lit the lamp for Dallas, which ousted the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks in six games in the quarterfinals. Ribeiro collected two assists and Marty Turco stopped 25-of-27 shots to pick up the win.

Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek scored for the Sharks, who outlasted the Calgary Flames in a grueling first-round series, notching a 5-3 home victory in the decisive Game 7. Nabokov allowed three goals on 18 shots in defeat.

"It's only one game," Michalek said. "It's a best of seven...we're going to go hard the next game and we're going to win (the) next game."

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

Trailing 2-1 late in the third period, San Jose's Matt Carle got the puck through from the top of the left circle. Turco made the save, but Cheechoo crashed the net and stuffed the rebound past the outstretched glove of the fallen netminder with 3:02 remaining.

With 2:21 left in regulation, San Jose defenseman Brian Campbell was whistled for interference, but the Stars failed to connect on the power play and the game went to sudden death.

"We knew they were going to have a lot of emotion," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "We came out here, weathered the storm a little bit. I would like to see us generate a little more. I didn't think we skated as well as we needed to early. We had some spurts in the game, but the reality is we're going to have to be much better. We capitalized on some chances, so give us credit for that. Turco made some big saves for us, but I don't think we played close to what we played in the Anaheim series. So, we're going to have to raise our level if we're going to compete with this team."

San Jose spent much of the first period in the attacking zone, taking 10 shots on goal, but Turco was flawless between the pipes. Meanwhile, the Stars didn't register a shot on goal until the there was 3:34 left and were held to two for the frame.

The Sharks opened the scoring at the 4:50 mark of the first. An errant pass by Dallas defenseman Matt Niskanen was kept in at the point by Campbell, who slid the puck to the high slot for Joe Thornton. Thornton then quickly dished to the right circle, where Michalek fired a wrister that squirted through the pads of Turco and trickled across the goal line.

Dallas responded on the power play, as Modano's one-timer from the point made its way through a maze of bodies and past a screened Nabokov at 6:06.

The Stars went up 2-1 a little over three minutes later. Ribeiro gathered the puck behind the net, skated around the far post and backhanded the puck through the crease to Morrow for an easy tap-in at 9:09.

Game Notes

Dallas is the only road team to win thus far in the second round...This marks the third meeting between these two clubs in the postseason, with Dallas winning the previous two series in 1998 and 2000...The regular-season series between Dallas and San Jose was extremely close with each team winning four games...The Stars finished 1-for-5 on the power play, while San Jose went 0- for-4.

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