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

DALLAS -- Just when it looked like the Dallas Stars were about to get at least a point out of Sunday’s game against Los Angeles, the Kings scored with 20.8 seconds remaining in regulation to beat the Stars 3-2.

The Los Angeles game-winner, scored by Michal Handzus, came less than 22 seconds after the Stars had tied the game on a goal by Jamie Langenbrunner. The regulation loss snapped the Stars’ points streak at eight games and left them one point behind Los Angeles in the Western Conference standings.

“We’ll probably look at some positives from the game, but it’s five minutes after a loss and I don’t think we want anyone in here to accept those easily,” said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. “We’re all a little [ticked] off right now, as we should be.”

The Stars battled back from a 2-0 deficit in the game and seemed poised to get at least a point out of it when Alex Goligoski put a shot on net and Langenbrunner poked the puck past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick with 42.1 seconds remaining.

“It was laying between his legs. He was searching for it and I was lucky to squeeze it through,” Langenbrunner said of the goal.

But the Kings got the puck in the Dallas zone with just under 30 seconds left, Alex Ponikarovsky centered it and Handzus knocked it past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen to give Los Angeles the 3-2 lead with 20.8 seconds remaining.

“The goalie was outside the crease, so I was kind of coming in and looking for the puck. It hit my stick and I was able to redirect it,” said Handzus. “It's huge. It's two points, and we need every point. Plus, they didn't get a point.”

The Stars didn’t get a point in a game for the first time since February 13, when they lost 1-0 to New Jersey at American Airlines Center.

“It was a tough loss the way we battled back,” said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. “We’ve got to be able to close it and get it to overtime. It happened and there is nothing we can do now. We’ve got to focus on the next one.”

Los Angeles built a 2-0 lead in the game, getting a power play goal from Drew Doughty 3:04 into the game and then a Dustin Penner goal off the rush at 14:01 of the second. The Stars got back into the game when Loui Eriksson set up Brad Richards on a breakaway, and Richards beat Quick for his 25th goal of the season.

Sunday’s game was the first of what will be a week of tough opponents coming into the AAC. San Jose is up next, followed by Chicago and Philadelphia. So, the Stars are determined to put Sunday’s loss behind them and move forward.

“There’s lots of good things that came with tonight’s game. As we said to our players, we just have to focus in on making these subtle improvements that we can. That’s what we’ll choose to focus on,” Crawford said. “The one thing that happens in the playoffs is when you have a tough loss, you can’t dwell on it. You just have to move forward and get past it. It sucks, there’s no doubt about it. There’s no sense dwelling on it, that does nobody any good. We’ll regroup and get ourselves focused forward.”

Notes

*Stars forward Adam Burish missed Sunday’s game with a lower body injury

*LW Brian Sutherby and D Mark Fistric were scratches.