1. Brenden Morrow, Stars: The captain went hard to the net and was rewarded with a goal and an assist. He also drew the penalty that set up the key 5-on-3 power play.

2. Mike Ribeiro, Stars: Ribeiro continues to show an amazing amount of calm, and he's scoring from a radius of about five feet around the net.

3. Steve Ott, Stars: The super agitator was under San Jose's skin from the opening drop of the puck. An empty-net goal was huge, as well.

First period: The two teams exchanged physical play, scrums and skirmishes, but not many shots on goal. San Jose had the edge in shots at 5-4 and also had more penalty minutes at 21-13. The Sharks scored the only goal of the period on the power play as Devin Setoguchi flipped a backhand past Marty Turco and just inside the far post.

San Jose 1, Stars 0

Second period: Dallas continued its second period domination with three goals (it has now outscored the opposition in the second period, 40-22). Brenden Morrow started the scoring when a pass attempt he made was tipped and flipped up over the top of the net. He then raced to the front of the net and somehow pushed the puck over the goal line with a couple of whacks of his stick. San Jose went back ahead 45 seconds later on a Patrick Rissmiller goal, but the Stars answered with power play goals from Mike Ribeiro and Antti Miettinen.

Stars 3, San Jose 2

Third period: The Stars played their best defense and sucked the life out of the Sharks. San Jose put six shots on net and had only one real good scoring chance. That one was a dandy as Joe Thornton was two feet in front of Turco and all alone, but Turco responded with a big skate save. Dallas then milked the game to the end and closed it out with an empty-net goal from Steve Ott.

Stars 4, San Jose 2