Fri Mar 28 01:32:19 2008

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Thornton lifts Sharks over Stars in OT

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San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Joe Thornton's power-play goal with 2:02 left in overtime gave San Jose a 3-2 win over Dallas at HP Pavilion. With the victory, the Sharks clinched home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The drama started early in the extra session, as Dallas netminder Marty Turco was hit with a double minor at 1:15 for using the blade of his stick to open a welt under the eye of Joe Pavelski. Then, at 2:46, Trevor Daley was whistled for hooking.

Just 12 seconds into the 5-on-3, Marleau adjusted his stick at the goal mouth and appeared to poke home a feed by Joe Thornton, lifting the Sharks to victory. Several minutes later, the official scorers awarded the goal to Thornton.

Thornton and Pavelski each tallied in regulation, and Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves for San Jose, which has not lost in regulation since February 20. The Sharks are at the top of the heap in the Pacific Division, and second in the Western Conference with 102 points.

Brenden Morrow and Jiri Lehtinen each scored and Turco stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced as Dallas dropped its fifth straight game. The Stars hold the third spot in the division and are tied with Calgary for fifth in the West with 90 points.

Morrow got things underway with his goal at 15:59 of the first period, as he banked the puck off a retreating Nabokov and watched it cross the goal line.

The teams then traded goals in the second.

The Sharks tied it at the 3:48 mark, thanks to Pavelski's power-play tally against the No. 1 penalty killing unit in the NHL. A two-on-one developed in front of the net, and it was Pavelski who found open space in the bottom of the left circle, one-timing a feed from Marleau past a diving Turco.

Dallas went back on top, though, cashing in on the man-advantage as Mike Ribeiro used a clean passing lane to put a feed right on the tape of Lehtinen's stick. Lehtinen then finished off the bang-bang play by drilling the disc past Nabokov at 12:29.

Thornton notched his fifth goal in three nights, and made it a 2-2 game early in the third. Mike Grier drew two men over to the left wing, then dished to Thornton, who was all alone down low and one-timed the feed into the top right corner of the net at 6:08.

Game Notes

Sharks right wing Jonathan Cheechoo missed his second straight game with a sore head and neck...San Jose leads the season series, 4-3. The Sharks also snapped a six-game skid against the Stars at HP Pavilion...San Jose has won six of its last seven as host.