Sharks 4, Stars 1
Defenseman Brent Burns and Logan Couture scored power-play goals and the visiting San Jose Sharks sent the reeling Dallas Stars to their fifth consecutive defeat with a 4-1 win Saturday night.
Antti Niemi turned aside 30 shots for his fourth straight win and the Sharks remained the only team in the league to remain undefeated (6-0-0) when scoring the first goal of the game.
Brad Winchester and Jamie McGinn also tallied for San Jose, which improved to 10-1-2 in its last 13 games. Captain Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau had two assists apiece.
Mike Ribeiro's goal at 6:22 of the third period ended a drought of 194 minutes, 11 seconds for Dallas, which had been shut out in its previous two losses and has been outscored 21-4 during its losing streak.
Burns put San Jose on the board at 4:58 of the first, taking a pass from Thornton and slipping a backdoor goal past Andrew Raycroft.
Couture doubled the advantage at 1:23 of the second before Winchester made it 3-0 at 4:52, whistling a shot past the glove of Raycroft, who lost for the fourth time in as many starts.
The chippy contest featured 110 penalty minutes, with six players sent off for fighting and five 10-minute misconducts assessed.