Stars 5, Sharks 4 (SO)
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Jamie Benn scored the lone goal in the shootout and Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped all three Sharks as the Stars denied San Jose of an NHL record with a 5-4 win on Sunday.
The loss snapped San Jose's seven-game winning streak and prevented the Sharks from winning all seven games on the homestand, which would have been an NHL first.
Lehtonen denied Logan Couture, Dan Boyle and Brent Burns, while Benn beat Sharks goalie Antti Niemi with a forehand shot in the shootout.
The Sharks had two of the three shots taken in overtime to outshoot the Stars 36-33 after 65 minutes.
Dallas rallied in the third period to tie the game by mid-period. Alex Chiasson scored his third of the season and second of the afternoon at 6:07 by capping an odd-man break with a tip-in of a Ray Whitney goal-mouth pass.
Dallas' Loui Eriksson pounced on a short rebound to the left of Antti Niemi at 9:14 after the Sharks goalie had stopped Matt Fraser's shot from the left wing.
The hosts scored three of the five goals scored in a wild, mistake-filled second period to take a two-goal advantage into the final 20 minutes.
After the Sharks survived a number of turnovers and near-misses by the Stars, Brent Burns doubled a 1-0 lead after one period with a shot on the fly from the right boards at 3:06 that beat Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen, who failed to cover the near post.
But less than a minute later, the visitors struck for consecutive goals within 26 seconds to tie it. Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic turned the puck over to Dallas' Vernon Fiddler, who fed Eric Nystrom in front for a goal at 3:41. Then Alex Chiasson found an opening just to the right of the slot to bang home a tying goal at 4:07.
The Sharks struck for the tiebreaker when Raffi Torres jarred Nystrom into an offensive-zone turnover and fed T.J. Galiardi, who scored his third goal of the season with a perfect no-look backhand shot at 7:48.
Torres wasn't done contributing; following consecutive failed San Jose power plays, he provided the primary assist on Vlasic's third goal of the year after a lengthy review.
Vlasic banked a shot off of Lehtonen's dropped goal stick and the netminder's pants just inside the near post on a wrap-around at 15:31 to give San Jose a two-goal lead.
The Sharks scored the only goal of the first period while enjoying a 10-6 edge in shots.
After killing a penalty taken within the first minute of action, San Jose struck at even strength just past the midway point of the period. Logan Couture won a battle on the board with Dallas defenseman Aaron Rome and centered to Tommy Wingels, who scored his fourth goal of the season from close range at 8:39 on San Jose's fifth shot of the game.
NOTES: Veteran forward Raffi Torres made his Sharks' debut, lining up at left wing alongside new teammates Joe Pavelski and T.J. Galiardi on the team's third line. Torres was acquired at the trade deadline from Phoenix, but did not play on Friday due to an illness. San Jose's other deadline-day pick-up, defenseman Scott Hannan, remains out with an upper-body injury that has kept the former Nashville Predator out since March 17. ... Sunday's game marked the first of six in 10 days for San Jose, which heads out for a four-game road trip starting Tuesday in Columbus. The Sharks will play every other night on the road thereafter in Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix before closing out the regular season with four of six at home. ... Sunday's game capped a three-game West Coast swing for the Stars, who next host Los Angeles on Tuesday. ... San Jose scratches included forwards James Sheppard, Tim Kennedy and defenseman Matt Tennyson. Forward Lane MacDermid did not dress for Dallas. He's nursing an upper-body injury sustained Friday in Anaheim.
