SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks have been here before, which only slightly lessens the sting and the feeling of a missed opportunity.

Almost as soon as Brenden Morrow's one-timer gave the Stars a 3-2 overtime victory, the Sharks drew some inspiration from the first round.

They dropped the first game then, 3-2 to the Calgary Flames, to lose home-ice advantage and then rebounded to the win the series in a dramatic Game 7 at home. Now they face the same situation.

"It's far from over," said center Joe Thornton, who created tons of chances but finished with just one assist.

Said defenseman Milan Michalek, who had San Jose's first goal: "It's only one game. It's best of 7."

But the adjustments may be more difficult against the Stars than the one-dimensional, if dogged Flames.

The Stars' top line produced two goals from Brenden Morrow and two assists from Mike Ribeiro. And while Ribeiro wasn't credited with an assist on the game-winner, he carried the puck into the offensive zone and set things in motion with a cross-ice pass to Stephane Robidas.

"They have a good line," Michalek said. "Mike Ribeiro has been very good on the puck. We have to go and hit them hard."

The Sharks' other goal came from Jonathan Cheechoo, who could be the kind of player to lead a comeback.

In the first round against Calgary, he had three goals. Cheechoo looked like the player who was an All-Star last season and who scored 56 goals in 2005-06 at age 25, not the guy who had 23 goals and 37 points this season.

But during Friday's game, he was dropped off the first line with Thornton by coach Ron Wilson.

"He wasn't skating and wasn't involved in the action," Wilson said.

On the game-tying goal, he bulled his way to the net in front of Robidas and knocked the puck past goaltender Marty Turco with 3:02 remaining in regulation. It was his 15th playoff goal since 2003-04, tied for ninth among NHL players.

Wilson wants to see more, not just in results, but in style of play.

"Cheech, when he gets involved and gets his nose dirty like he did, he's going to score," Wilson said. "He scored kind of a typical Jonathan Cheechoo goal. We need him to do that on every shift. We need more."