Faceoff Factor

Sharks Vs. Stars Game 1 Preview

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Apr 25, 01:33 PM | Hype this story!

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Sharks (2) vs. Stars (5) Game 1
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Series Score: Sharks 0 – Stars 0
Game Time: 10:00 EST
Location: HP Pavilion (San Jose)
Television: Versus, TSN

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Preview
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The San Jose Sharks are fresh off a grueling seven game series versus the Calgary Flames and will have an even tougher challenge on their hands in the Dallas Stars tonight. The Stars, meanwhile, had a couple extra days off after dismantling the defending champs in six.

For San Jose, the wake-up call must be answered here and now. They barely survived a first round scare from Calgary, a series that saw some less-than-dominant performances from Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau and a disappearing act by Milan Michalek. If the Sharks get everyone clicking on all cylinders they are a team that would be tough to beat, but the Sharks have proven to be underachievers in April.

Despite the numbers, the Sharks can, at least in part, thank Evgeni Nabokov for their advancement. Joe Thornton said Nabokov was the team’s MVP thus far, adding, “he’s the reason why we’re in this position right now.”

Several teammates said that Nabby’s words after a game 3 loss was the turning point of the series for them.

Meanwhile, young forward Milan Michalek acknowledges that his play needs to be picked up in this series, “I didn’t play very well and I know it,” Michalek admitted. “I need to get back to playing the game the way I know how and hope I get a lucky bounce or something to get going and help my confidence.”

The Dallas Stars terminated Anaheim’s season in quite dominant fashion. Marty Turco was outstanding for the second straight first round series and the Stars offense effectively slaughtered Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

All this was done without the services of Sergei Zubov for the entire series and Philippe Boucher for half of it. While Boucher is not expected back, Sergei Zubov’s return from a sports hernia is a distinct possibility.

“He’s certainly making progress,” said Stars coach Dave Tippett. Zubov concurred, “It feels better. I’m almost there, that’s all I can tell you.”

The Stars were quite successful on the whole. Mike Ribeiro continued his regular season success, Brendan Morrow scored all three of his goals on the power play, and the young defensemen stepped up big time: Matt Niskanen, Mark Fistric and Nicklas Grossman. The only somewhat dismal spot was Niklas Hagman who went pointless after a breakout regular season. He was even called for a phantom goalie interference that brought back an obvious Dallas goal.

One more thing of note between these two teams was their last regular season game. The essentially meaningless game yielded 160 penalty minutes including 9 fighting majors.

“We didn’t expect that one bit, but for some reason things got a little rough, a little physical,” said rookie Sharks forward Devin Setoguchi. “And it showed a lot of character on both sides, sticking up for each other.”

The Stars and Sharks will meet for game one at the Shark Tank tonight at 10 eastern.

For a complete list of team leaders and statistics, click here.

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Injuries
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Sharks: No major injuries
Stars: Zubov, DTD (Sports hernia); Boucher, Out (lower body)