SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Maybe Craig Rivet did the Dallas Stars a favor.

When the San Jose Sharks defenseman buried Brenden Morrow’s face into the glass in the first period Thursday, he awoke a fire that has been lacking in Dallas’ five-game road trip.

The Stars, despite missing injured defenseman Sergei Zubov for half of the game, put together their most complete game in two weeks and took a 4-2 win over the Sharks at HP Pavilion.

"That was huge," goalie Marty Turco said. "Tonight was a classic example of being there for each other all over the ice. It was a true team win."

The victory, combined with Anaheim’s 2-1 win over Nashville, puts the Ducks in first place in the Pacific Division with 58 points. The Stars (26-18-5) end a three-game winless streak and now have 57 points. San Jose (25-14-7) has played three fewer games than the Stars and also has 57 points.

With Morrow trying to play the puck while facing the boards in the first period, Rivet hit the Stars captain from behind. Morrow’s head bounced off the glass, and he crumpled to the ice in a heap. Trevor Daley charged in to fight Rivet and ended up taking an instigator minor a fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct penalty for 17 total minutes. Rivet received no penalty on the play but spent five minutes in the box for fighting.

"Trevor Daley responded very well," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I still don’t know how that wasn’t a penalty."

Daley said he just wanted Rivet to know that kind of hit was unacceptable.

"Any time you see one of your guys laying on the ice, you don’t let that happen," Daley said. "Especially with your captain."

Morrow got up from the hit and spent a good five minutes discussing with the officials why there was no penalty on Rivet. Officials told him they felt he turned into the boards. Morrow had a large contusion under his eye and took stitches over his eye. His face and the front of his jersey were covered with blood.

"It’s a long trip and to have that gut check and find that effort, that’s huge for the team," Morrow said. "We could have packed it away or been disappointed with the refs, but we found a way to win."

The Stars got two goals from Mike Modano (who now has eight points in the past five games) and two assists from Loui Eriksson (who now has six points in the last five games). The two were combined on a line with Niklas Hagman, and Hagman finished with a goal and an assist.

In addition, they spent much of the night checking the Sharks’ top line with Joe Thornton.

"I thought that line was very good tonight," Tippett said.

Thornton tied the game at the 3:23 mark of the third period, but Modano came back and registered the winner at the 12:54 mark. It was Modano’s fourth goal at HP Center this year, and he joked afterward the Stars should maybe move to San Jose.

Dallas has now won six straight in the building -- impressive when you consider the Sharks fans are always vocal and have a solid rivalry going with the Stars.

AP

Brenden Morrow gets upended in a physical night for the Dallas Stars captain.

"It was a fun, revved up game," Modano said. "Sometimes, when you bear down, and you know the crowd is into it, that’s exciting. It’s the challenge of not only the other team, but trying to take the crowd out of the game."

Of course, when you get motivated the way the Stars were after the Rivet hit, emotion is easy to come by. The Stars played a significant chunk without Daley because of the penalties he received from the fight. They also played the third period without Zubov, who aggravated his foot injury. Zubov is listed as day to day.

The Stars also were in a three-game winless streak and were in jeopardy of falling further behind in the Western Conference standings.

"As much as the outside pressure is there, the players want to win even more," Tippett said. "When things aren’t going their way, it hurts. They want to play better. When we come out with an effort like that, it’s so good to see they get rewarded for their work."

And something they believe they can take into games Saturday and Sunday at home.

"We’re leaving here without any excuses," Morrow said. "We came out and had a great effort. Nobody has to feel sorry for us. We can build off of tonight."