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Stars try to wrap up series in San Jose

Fri 2nd, May 2008

(Sports Network) - The Dallas Stars will get another chance to wrap up their Western Conference semifinal series tonight, when they visit the second-seeded San Jose Sharks for Game 5 at HP Pavilion.

The fifth-seeded Stars won the first three games of this best-of-seven set, but San Jose staved off elimination and cut the series deficit to 3-1 with a victory in Dallas on Wednesday.

Milan Michalek scored the game-winning goal 3:26 into the third period, as the Sharks posted a 2-1 win in Game 4 at American Airlines Center.

Patrick Marleau also tallied for the Sharks, while Evgeni Nabokov stopped 17- of-18 shots to pick up the win. San Jose has only been swept once in its playoff history as Detroit accomplished the feat in the 1995 conference semifinals.

Jere Lehtinen scored an unassisted goal for the fifth-seeded Stars, while Marty Turco allowed two goals on 24 shots in defeat.

Turco has surrendered two goals or less in five consecutive outings and is 7-3 with a 1.88 goals against average and .921 save percentage in 10 postseason games this year.

Dallas was trying for just the third sweep of a seven-game series in franchise history. The Stars' last sweep came in 1999, when Dallas defeated Edmonton in four games during the opening round en route to the franchise's only Stanley Cup championship.

Stars centerman Stu Barnes missed Wednesday's game with a head injury and is questionable for tonight's test. The veteran has two goals and an assist in this year's postseason.

The Stars finished in third place in the Pacific -- 11 points behind the division champion Sharks and five in back of second-place Anaheim. Dallas disposed of the Ducks in six games during the opening round and is still just one win away from ousting San Jose.

Only two teams in NHL history have come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series and the last time it happened was in 1975 when the New York Islanders pulled it off in the quarterfinals against Pittsburgh. Toronto also did it against Detroit in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals.

The Sharks have never even won a series when falling behind two games to none.

The Stars last lost a series when holding a 2-0 lead in 1992, when they fell in six games to Detroit in the opening round. That was also the last playoff series for the Minnesota North Stars, who relocated to Dallas for the 1993-94 campaign.

The Sharks have averaged nearly 105 points during the last three regular seasons and notched a franchise-record 108 points this year. However, that success has not translated to the playoffs recently, as San Jose seems to be headed for its third consecutive second-round exit since reaching the conference finals in 2004.

This year was supposed to be different, as the Sharks were the NHL's hottest team in the second half of the season, posting an 18-0-2 stretch at one point. However, the Sharks, who went seven games with seventh-seeded Calgary in the first round, have yet to show that dominant regular-season form in this postseason.

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 victory coming in five games during the 2000 conference semifinals.

San Jose was better on the road than at the Shark Tank this season, but the Sharks still had a solid 22-13-6 record as the hosts. Dallas was 22-14-5 as the visiting club.

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