Sharks at Stars
THE STORY: In a mere eight days, the Dallas Stars have gone from being perhaps the league's biggest surprise to one of its biggest question marks. A blazing start in which the Stars reeled off 11 wins in 14 games to surge to the top of the Western Conference has disintegrated into a wobbly stretch of four consecutive losses, including back-to-back shutouts at home against Florida on Tuesday night and at Colorado on Friday night. The outlook for an abrupt turnaround does not seem promising as the Stars host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. After stumbling to three losses in its first four games, San Jose has started to put things together by running off a 9-1-2 stretch in its last 12 games. The teams split six meetings last season, with the road team prevailing in four of the matchups.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSCA (San Jose), KTXA (Dallas)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (10-5-1): Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a career-high four points, doubling his season total in Thursday’s 5-2 home win over Detroit. Joe Thornton, who had a goal and an assist in the win, has 47 points in 49 career games against Dallas. G Antti Niemi turned aside a season-high 40 shots to register his third consecutive victory. His last shutout came against the Stars on March 31. Brad Winchester scored his first goal of the season.
ABOUT THE STARS (11-7-0): Dallas has scored only three goals in its four-game losing streak. Prior to the skid, the Stars had pumped home 20 goals in a four-game winning streak. Brenden Morrow has only one goal in his last 13 games after scoring 33 times last season. Kari Lehtonen absorbed his third straight defeat despite turning back a season-high 42 shots against Colorado. He’s had troubles with the Sharks, going 3-4-1 with a 3.69 ERA.
OVERTIME:
1. San Jose is 5-0-0 when scoring first and is the only undefeated team in the league when netting the first goal.
2. The Stars had one victory Friday when the NHL Board of Governors approved the sale of the team to Tom Gaglardi.