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Thornton helps Sharks snap losing skid

Jan 1, 2007 - 5:53 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- The San Jose Sharks have been playing poorly, but Joe Thornton made sure it did not continue.

Thornton had a goal and two assists as the Sharks downed the Dallas Stars, 4-2, to snap a three-game losing streak.

In losing the three games, including an 8-0 blanking from the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday, the Sharks were outscored, 15-5.

"It seems like every time a team has a big loss, they usually come back and have a good effort the next day," Thornton said. "We had to watch a little bit of tape today. It was mostly about playing good defense.

"Obviously, the last couple of games haven't gone our way, and it's our own fault. So we just talked about that a little bit. Obviously, we came out with a good start, and that has been lacking the last six or seven games."

"We knew they were going to play a desperate game," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "This was our fourth in six nights, and we got behind the eight-ball. You use a lot more energy chasing than defending a lead. They lost three straight and got spanked last night. We knew they'd be desperate."

The reigning Art Ross Trophy winner has been playing well despite San Jose's recent woes, with two goals and five assists in his last five games.

Two Sharks who had been struggling had productive nights, as Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau each had a goal and an assist. Marleau entered with one goal in his last five games while Cheechoo only had one assist in his last five.

"The main thing was that we said everybody trusts everybody to do their job, and we have to hold each other more accountable," Marleau said. "We have great players and we have to show it, and tonight we showed it."

Joe Pavelski had the other goal for San Jose, which got 21 saves from Vesa Toskala. Defenseman Sergei Zubov and Niklas Hagman had the Dallas goals.

Stars goaltender Marty Turco, who had registered two consecutive shutouts against the Sharks, was pulled midway through the first period after allowing three goals on 10 shots.

"We have to play on the edge and we need to be ready to play," Turco said. "Somebody's got to make sure we're ready. I think we've been playing well lately, but it's one of those nights where we are not peaking with the intensity that we should, and that comes back to haunt us."

"We got to him (Turco) early, and first of all, scoring the first goal for the first time in a while was huge for us and allowed us to relax," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said.

The Stars, who had their two-game win streak snapped, head out on a three-game West Coast trip.

"We're going to learn from this and bounce back for the road trip," said Dallas goaltender Mike Smith, who made 18 saves after replacing Turco. "We've felt good about our game lately, and it'll sure help when we get some of our injured guys back. We'll have a Happy New Year, go on the road and hopefully get three wins."