ESPN

The Dallas Stars’ woes in the second game of back-to-backs continued Thursday night in San Jose. The Stars lost 5-2 to the Sharks, falling to 0-8-1 this season in the second game of back-to-backs.

It didn’t help matters that they ran into a San Jose team that was clicking on all cylinders. The Sharks outshot the Stars 37-21, including 28-11 through the first two periods as they built a 4-1 lead in the game. San Jose won an astounding 40 of 52 (77 percent) in the game.

“I thought they played a real good game start to finish,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said of the Sharks. “I thought a good indication were those faceoffs, manhandling us on the draws. I thought they were at the top of their game.

“We didn’t win any battles starting from the faceoff circles to corner. The way they were moving the puck around, we were just chasing it. We were a step behind.”

The Stars (26-22-2) fell three points behind Minnesota for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“There were a lot of frustrating things tonight. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted,” said Stars forward Steve Ott. “There were a lot of little breakdowns. Our faceoff percentage was [bad] and when that happens you are going to chase the puck a lot. We made some costly mistakes that hurt our chances of being in the game.”

The Stars, coming off a 6-2 win in Anaheim on Wednesday, were under the gun in the first 20 minutes Thursday. The Sharks outshot the Stars 15-7 on their way to building a 2-0 lead on an even-strength goal by Michael Handzus and a power play tally by Joe Pavelski.

Only some big saves by Richard Bachman kept it from getting out of hand early. He made several quality stops, including a save on a breakaway by Pavelski and then a second stop on Pavelski’s rebound attempt.

“He made some huge saves,” said Gulutzan. “I thought the first period could have been 5-0. He made some real huge saves.”

The Stars got back in the game on the scoreboard when Ott busted in on net with Dallas on the power play and Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle tried to clear the puck away and accidentally put it in his own net.

But the Sharks got their fourth power play of the night a short time later and cashed in when Patrick Marleau tipped home a Brent Burns centering pass to extend the San Jose lead to 3-1 with five minutes left in the second. The Sharks ended up 2-5 on the power play in the game.

“We took a lot of penalties and they have a lot talent and they want to get on the power play,” Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “When you give them that many power plays they are eventually going to capitalize on it. That’s exactly what happened.”

Less than two minutes after Marleau's goal, Pavelski picked off a Nicklas Grossman pass in the Dallas zone and set up Joe Thornton, who had an easy tap-in to give the Sharks a 4-1 lead.

Jamie Benn scored early in the third to cut the lead to 4-2, but Ryan Clowe scored later in the period to make it a 5-2 game.

Notes

*Stars defenseman Nicklas Grossman, who missed Wednesday’s game with the flu, played on Thursday. The Stars dressed seven defensemen and eleven forwards.

*Jake Dowell, Toby Petersen and Adam Pardy were healthy scratches.

*Stars center Jamie Benn has scored goals in consecutive games since returning from his appendectomy.

*Stars forward Steve Ott has consecutive multi-point games.

*The Stars were 1-2 on the power play Thursday and are 2-5 in their first two games since the break.

*The Stars were 3-5 on the penalty kill.

*Benn lost all seven of his faceoffs. Mike Ribeiro won one of eleven.

*The Stars are 0-3-0 against San Jose this season and have been outscored 14-5.

Back-t0-back woes

The Stars are now 4-12-2 in back-to-back games this season, including 0-8-1 in second games. Excluding the extra goal awarded for a shootout victory, the Stars have been outscored 36-14 in those second games.

The Dallas Stars quest for three straight wins fell short in San Jose Thursday night as they lost 5-2 to the Sharks. The Stars are now three points behind Minnesota for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Stars are now 0-8-1 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. Steve Ott and Jamie Scored for the Stars. Richard Bachman stopped 32 of 37 shots. San Jose outshot the Stars 37-21 and won 40 of 52 (77 percent) faceoffs.

First period

The Sharks struck 4:42 into the game to take the early lead. A Brent Burns shot from the point deflected off Sharks forward Michal Handzus and past Stars goalie Richard Bachman.

Bachman made some big stops to keep it a one-goal game. He made a nice stop on a blast from Joe Thornton and then stopped Joe Pavelski on a breakaway and then denied Pavelski’s rebound bid.

But the Sharks extended the lead by taking advantage of the game’s first power play when Pavelski’s shot from the point made its way through traffic and past Bachman at the 16:32 mark.

The Sharks outshot the Stars 15-7 in the period.

Nicklas Grossman, who missed Wednesday night's game with the flu, was back in the lineup. The Stars dressed seven defensemen scratched Jake Dowell from the fourth line.

Second period

The Stars killed off the remaining 40 seconds of a San Jose power play to open the period and then thwarted another full Sharks power play a short time later.

The Stars then got a couple of power plays and cashed in on the second one to cut the San Jose to 2-1. As Steve Ott was trying to bust in on net, Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle tried to clear the puck away and ended up it firing it into his own net at 12:41 of the second.

But the Sharks went on their fourth power play less than a minute later and scored to take a 3-1 lead. Patrick Marleau tipped in a Brent Burns centering pass at the 14:59 mark.

Less than two minutes later, Nicklas Grossman turned the puck over to Joe Pavelski, who set up Joe Thornton, who had an easy tap in to give the Sharks a 4-1 lead.

The Sharks outshot the Stars 13-4 in the second period and had a 28-11 advantage through 40 minutes.

Third period

Jamie Benn scored off a rebound at 6:22 of the third to cut San Jose’s lead to 4-2, but that was as close as the Stars would get.

Ryane Clowe scored later in the period to give the Sharks a 5-2 lead.

The Stars outshot the Sharks 10-9 in the third. San Jose had a 37-21 advantage for the game.

Stars lineup

Ott-Benn-Ryder
Morrow-Ribeiro-Eriksson
Nystrom-Fiddler-Dvorak
Wandell-Burish

Souray-Robidas
Goligoski-Larsen
Fistric-Daley
Grossman

Scratched: Dowell, Petersen, Pardy
Injured: None

The Dallas Stars ended their scoreless drought Saturday night, but the losing streak continued. The Stars dropped their fifth straight game, falling 4-1 to the San Jose Sharks at American Airlines Center.

“It sucks. We all hate losing and we’re all very proud individuals,” said Stars forward Steve Ott. “Our work ethic has definitely been on the up slope the past two games and the only way we are going to get out of this funk is by continuing to play that way. There were a couple of breakdowns that ended up in the back of our net, but I thought our work ethic was 100 times better than it has been.”

But the results weren’t there for the Stars, who have been outscored 21-4 during the five-game slide and 16-1 over the last ten periods of play.

“You can see it (the frustration), especially the second half of the game. Our emotions are high. I think we’re just a little rattled,” said Stars goaltender Andrew Raycroft, who made 34 saves in the game and fell to 0 -4-0 on the season. “We just need to keep our heads down, work hard and get ourselves out of it that way - with lots of hard work and some patience.”

Special teams played a key role Saturday night. San Jose’s first two goals came on the power play. Once again the Stars were on the short end of the number of power plays handed out in the game. San Jose had five chances with the man advantage to two for the Stars. During their five-game slide the Stars have been on the power play nine times while their opponents have had 23 opportunities.

”I might sound like a whiny coach, but I had some beefs with the officiating when we were 11-3 and now we’re 11-8 and I still have them,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “I think we are on the wrong end of a lot of calls, but I think it is our fault. We whine like little babies throughout the game. … That’s going to change. We’re going to change that culture here. We’ve got to do it by zipping our mouths one step at a time. Refs are human and if you whine that much they are not going to give you calls. That’s the bottom line. And we’re not getting them. We’re not getting some calls and it’s our fault.”

Said Sharks coach Todd McLellan: "Prior to the game we talked about composure and discipline. We knew they'd taken a ton of penalties, they were the second-most penalized team in the league. We thought that would come into play at some point and we needed only two power-play goals. I was happy we responded physically but we were quite disciplined."

The Stars had a strong first period, outshooting the Sharks 14-10, but still found themselves down 1-0 heading into the first intermission. San Jose cashed in on its first power play chance when Joe Thornton hit pinching defenseman Brent Burns, who put the puck into the open side of the net 4:58 into the game.

The Sharks extended the lead to 2-0 by taking advantage of their third power play early in the second. A Thornton pass bounced off the skate of Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray and right onto the stick of San Jose forward Logan Couture, who beat Raycroft from point blank range.

It was a 3-0 game a little more than three minutes later when the Stars turned the puck over in their own zone and Brad Winchester scored from the slot.

San Jose made it 4-0 early in the third. Michal Handzus won a puck battle along the boards and centered the puck to Jamie McGinn, who scored from close range.

The Stars finally got on the board at the 6:22 mark of the third when Mike Ribeiro scored off the rush from the left circle, snapping the Stars scoreless drought at 194:11.

But that was it for the Stars, who took a lot of penalties out of frustration when it appeared Saturday’s game was out of reach.

“We have to play less frustrated when adversity hits. That’s going to change. I’ll tell you guys this honestly, I’ll use this forum to vent,” said Gulutzan. “I’ll be glad to go back to Saskatchewan if we don’t get out of this, but at the end of the day we’re going to do it the way we’re going to do it. We’re going to be men, we’re going to have character, we’re going to shut our mouths and we’re going to play. If that’s not good enough then so be it.”

Notes

*There were a total of 100 penalty minutes in Saturday’s game including three fights and four misconducts.

*New Stars owner Tom Gaglardi attended Saturday night’s game. He will be introduced at a press conference Monday afternoon.

*Jake Dowell and Philip Larsen were healthy scratches for the Stars.

*Saturday’s attendance was 13,711.

The Dallas Stars needed a win in regulation or overtime Sunday evening to secure a playoff spot but came up short, falling 5-3 to the Minnesota Wild. The Stars’ loss means that Chicago, which lost earlier in the day to Detroit, will get the eighth seed in the Western Conference and take on the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Brad Richards, Brenden Morrow and Alex Goligoski scored goals for the Stars. Loui Eriksson had three assists. Kari Lehtonen stopped 18 of 22 shots.

Quotable

“We just didn’t get it done. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. They tried their tails off tonight. Could list of a bevy of injuries our guys have played through. We have Adam Burish playing with a broken leg and Brenden Morrow hasn’t practiced in the last month-and-a-half. Yet, they come in and find ways to play. We lost [Toby] Petersen in the second period, that was a pretty siginicant loss for us. In the end, I am really proud of these guys. They just battled their tails off.” - Stars coach Marc Crawford

“In the afternoon game, Chicago lost and it was up to us. It was up to the players in his dressing room to win that game and we just couldn’t close the deal.” –Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas

“We put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect at the end. We had no room for error and we handled it pretty well, I thought. We were written off many times and the ultimate thing is we win today and were in and we didn’t do it.” – Stars center Brad Richards

“For me personally, being on the ice for that goal (Antti Miettinen’s game-winner) and letting the guy come backdoor behind me, that’s something that is going to be in the back of my mind the whole summer. … There are going to be some what ifs down the stretch on, our homestand or early in the season. You are going to question yourself and what you could have done. It’s been a couple years of this. Keep saying the same thing. We’re going to use it as motivation. Go back, prepare and get ready for another grind.” – Stars captain Brenden Morrow.

First period

The Wild made a strong push early but Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen came up big, including a nice sliding save on backhand attempt by Wild forward Matt Cullen.

The Wild opened the scoring at the 6:05 mark when Brad Staubitz scored off the rebound of a Brent Burns shot to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

The Stars came close to tying the game on their first power play chance, but a Stephane Robidas shot hit the post.

The Stars finally got the equalizer when Jamie Benn blocked a shot, setting up an odd-man rush that Brad Richards finished off with a one-timer after taking a pass from Loui Eriksson at the 12:28 mark.

The Stars took a 2-1 lead on their second power play chance of the game when Eriksson’s shot from the right circle deflected off Brenden Morrow and past Wild goalie Jose Theodore with 3:53 left in the period

The Stars went with the same lineup in the game. Krys Barch, Brad Lukowich, Tomas Vincour, Nicklas Grossman and Brian Sutherby were the players listed as scratches.

Second period

The Wild tied the game at 7:19 of the second by taking advantage of their first power play chance of the game. Andrew Brunette sent a pass from behind the goal line to defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who scored from the right faceoff circle.

The Wild took the lead at the 8:07 mark when Chuck Kobasew centered the puck from the left boards and Colton Gillies scored off a spinning backhand to put the Wild ahead 3-2.

The Stars drew even late in the period when they went on a five-on-three power play for 1:39. The first penalty was on Gillies, who threw Stars defenseman Jeff Woywitka into Kari Lehtonen and then Wild defenseman Greg Zanon tossed the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty.

The Stars scored 19 seconds after Zanon went into the box when defenseman Alex Goligoski scored off a blast from the high slot with 1:43 left in the period.

Third period

The Stars had a power play chance early in the third and Richards hit a crossbar and that was as close as Dallas came.

The Wild got their second power play chance of the game, couldn’t take advantage but not long after it expired they did score to take a 4-3 lead. Brunette set up Antti Miettinen, who put it into the open side of the net from close range with 13:13 left in the game.

The Stars pulled Lehtonen with just over 1:20 to go and the Wild sealed the win when Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored into an empty net with 12.1 seconds to go to make it a 5-3 final.