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Marleau helps Sharks edge Stars

Nov 9, 2008 - 8:11 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Captain Patrick Marleau scored with 29 seconds remaining in the third period Saturday, lifting the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Marleau took advantage of goaltender Marty Turco's botched clearing attempt and gained control of the puck on the doorstep before banging it into the vacant net for his seventh goal of the season.

"I came up at the right time, I guess," Marleau said. "Turco was out playing the puck a lot tonight, making pretty good plays. I was fortunate to benefit from the miscue at the end.

"I started cutting across the middle, and (defenseman Brad) Lukowich threw a hard pass. I just tried to get it in deep, and it went right on net. It was a fortunate play - it bounced out, hit my skate, hit my stick, and I took a couple of whacks at it and it went in."

Filling in for the injured Evgeni Nabokov, Brian Boucher turned aside 23 shots to help the Sharks remain the only unbeaten team at home (9-0-0).

"It's been pretty good discipline in the third period," San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. "Our players have found ways to play differently, if you will, in the third period, whether it's in a checking role, coming from behind or maintaining a lead."

The Sharks also became just the fourth team in history to win their first nine home games of a season and the first in 37 years. McLellan is now the second rookie coach ever to accomplish the feat, joining Alex Curry of the 1925-26 Ottawa Senators.

McLellan also was aware how easily a mistake can cost any team.

"You live by the sword, you die by the sword," he said. "We are no different, our goalies play the puck. We expect them to, we want them to. Fortunately for us tonight, we wanted to put a little pressure on (Turco) when he did have it, and he made the one mistake at the end.

"It's hard when you are a goaltender. People are zeroing in on you, you want to make the right play and the right decision. Marty has a lot of courage to go out and play the puck. It's a great quality, but sometimes it comes back to haunt you. Tonight was one of those nights."

Defenseman Dan Boyle netted his third goal of the season and Marleau added an assist for San Jose, which improved to 13-2-0 overall thanks to Turco's miscue.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Turco said. "Generally, I watch them and let them dictate. On my backhand, that particular time of the game, I shouldn't be going high over the middle. I don't know what I was thinking, really. ... I think that's why I got second star."

Loui Eriksson tallied for the Stars, who lost for the third time in four games.

"We played a very good game," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "It was a hard-fought game. Our goaltender played very well, but in the end, we made a mistake that cost us. There's an old saying, 'You learn from adversity.' We're certainly getting our fair share of it."

San Jose opened the scoring 7:13 into the contest, when Boyle fired a shot over Turco's glove.

The following session contained the same physical play as the first. Through two periods, the Stars were outhit, 34-14, and clearly outplayed on the second night of back-to-back games.

Dallas posted a 5-2 victory over Anaheim on Friday.

"They played last night," Boucher said. "I think we would have liked to take it to them a little more early on. We didn't really do that. We struck first, kept them on their heels. We had the lead for most of the game, which was nice."

Eriksson struck for his sixth goal of the season 3:41 into the third to tie it.

Lukowich turned over the puck behind the net to Eriksson, who snapped a pass to Steve Ott near the blue line. Ott's shot was wide left, but the carom off the end boards fell behind Boucher and Eriksson tapped it in.

"You could show this game in a class about why hockey is a 60-minute game," Lukowich said. "We had a couple of let-ups, but we didn't break. We bent and there were a couple of mistakes. Mine was a huge one, and I take responsibility for it. I went out there and just tried to make up for it by playing my game, not by trying to do too much. Don't try to get it back in one shift, play hard defense."

It was the first goal allowed by Boucher in three appearances this season, snapping his scoreless streak at 163 minutes, 41 seconds. The 31-year-old made a total of 43 saves in shutouts against Los Angeles on October 12 and Tampa Bay two weeks later.

"You can't go into a game thinking you are going to get a shutout," Boucher said. "You want to, but goodness, it's a pretty tough thing to do night in and night out. You can't get disappointed when a goal goes in. You have to shrug it off, move on and get ready for the next play.

"They can score on their next shot. You can go this whole time with no goals and they can score on three straight shots."

Nabokov, the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy last season, was scratched after suffering a lower body injury on the final shot of a shootout victory over St. Louis on Thursday.

"I saw (Nabokov) this morning," Boucher said. "I think goalies pretty much let the other guy do their thing and try to stay away. You could tell he was supportive today and wanted me to do well. It's nice to have a good partner like that."

San Jose outshot Dallas, 33-24.