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Sharks aid postseason push, hurt Stars'

Apr 4, 2012 - 5:29 AM Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Logan Couture scored the game-winning goal late in the second period and the San Jose Sharks skated past the Dallas Stars, 5-2, at American Airlines Center.

Daniel Winnik, T.J. Galiardi, Ryane Clowe and Joe Thornton scored for the Sharks, who swept a home-and-home with the Stars after winning at home on Saturday. Antti Niemi posted 29 saves in the victory.

The Sharks remained in eighth place in the Western Conference, one point behind Phoenix, which blanked Columbus Tuesday night.

Brenden Morrow and Alex Goligoski scored for the Stars, whose playoff hopes are now on life support. They are currently two points behind Phoenix for the eighth spot with two games left. Kari Lehtonen was tagged for four goals on 25 shots.

Skating on the man advantage, the Sharks took the lead for good when Martin Havlat threw a shot toward goal from the right circle that was deflected past Lehtonen by Couture in front to make it 3-2 San Jose with 2:36 showing on the second period clock.

San Jose made it 4-2 at 15:10 of the third period after Thornton took a pass from Joe Pavelski and ripped it past Lehtonen from the slot, and Clowe added an empty-netter with 1:04 to play to seal the win for San Jose, which took five of six meetings between the Pacific Division rivals this season.

"The pace was up-and-down," Couture said. "It was fun to play. ... It was a big win."

The Sharks opened the scoring at 12:09 after Winnik collected a rebound off a shot from Andrew Desjardins and banked it off Lehtonen from a sharp angle and in.

Dallas evened the game at one with 2:13 to go in the first frame when Morrow collected a loose puck behind the net and threw a backhander on net from below the goal line that snuck through Niemi.

Goligoski gave the Stars the lead at 11:10 of the second period when he blasted one home from the high slot off a feed from Jamie Benn, but it was short-lived as San Jose responded to tie the game at two just 32 seconds later when Dominic Moore warded off his defender behind the net and slid a pass to Galiardi, who chipped it home from in close.

"We just didn't execute," Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We had things set up, but we didn't execute. There were a few things during the game that we could have done better."

Game Notes

Dallas fell to 3-7-0 in their last 10 games...San Jose finished 1-for-4 with the man advantage, while the Stars failed to score on two man advantage opportunities...San Jose will finish the season with a home-and-home series against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday and Saturday, while Dallas will visit Nashville on Thursday, followed by a home date with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.