Late push not enough as Stars fall to Sharks

The Dallas Stars' current road trip continues to be a bumpy one. The Stars dropped to 0-3-0 on the trip with a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at SAP Center.
The game was pretty evenly played, except the Sharks ended up with one more puck in the net than the Stars.
"We played a really hard game in a tough building against a really good team on a back-to-back. I didn't feel we had any passengers tonight," said Stars forward Blake Comeau. "It's a results-based league, and it's disappointing we didn't get the win, but I think we did a better job than we did in Anaheim (6-3 loss Wednesday). That's a good step moving forward."

Thursday in San Jose, the Stars grabbed a 1-0 lead early in the second period, but the Sharks tied it late in the second and then scored twice in the first eight minutes of the third period to take a 3-1 lead that the Stars couldn't overcome.
"I thought our effort was pretty good tonight. I thought everybody that played gave an honest effort," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "Chances were almost even. Shots were almost even. They get that shot that goes off a shin pad to (Joe) Thornton for an empty-net goal (that made it 3-1). We didn't' get that bounce."
Radek Faksa and Miro Heiskanen scored goals, and Anton Khudobin stopped 21 shots for the Stars, who fell to 6-10-2 on the road this season and 16-13-3 overall. They dropped to 10th in the West, two points out of the final playoff spot.
"We can't' be thinking about where we are in the standings," Comeau said. "It's just important we finish this road trip off with a win (Saturday in Colorado)."

Timo Meier scored two goals for the Sharks, who won their third straight game, improved to 17-11-5 and moved into second place in the Pacific Division.
"This was a big win for us tonight," said Sharks coach Peter DeBoer. "We didn't start great, but you have to give them credit. I thought they played a very good game for back-to-back games. They were tight, and they didn't give us a lot of room."
After an uneventful first period, the pace picked up in the second and both teams scored once. The Stars struck first when a Julius Honka shot from the right circle hit the post, and Faksa put the rebound past Sharks goaltender Martin Jones to give Dallas a 1-0 lead at the 3:35 mark.
The Sharks drew even late in the period on a goal by Meier, who took a handoff from Brent Burns near the right point and then scored through a maze of players with a shot from about 50 feet to make it a 1-1 game at 16:30 of the second.
The Sharks broke the tie early in the third period on Meier's second goal of the game. Erik Karlsson knocked the puck away from Heiskanen as he entered the San Jose zone and the Sharks got a 3-on-1 going the other way that Meier finished off to make it a 2-1 game at the 2:50 mark. The Sharks extended the lead to 3-1 when San Jose defenseman Radim Simek's shot was blocked and the puck bounced right to Thornton, who put it into the open side of the net at 7:56 of the third.
The Stars cut the lead to 3-2 at the 12:24 mark when Jamie Benn set up Heiskanen in transition, and the Stars rookie defenseman scored on a shot from the slot for his seventh goal of the season.
The Stars pulled Khudobin for an extra attacker late in the game, had some good looks but couldn't get the puck to bounce their way and get the equalizer.

Turning point

With the two teams tied 1-1 early in the third period, Heiskanen carried the puck into the San Jose zone and tried to chip the puck along the boards, but Karlsson knocked the puck out of midair and sent the Sharks on a 3-on-1 rush. Meier scored on the odd-man rush to put the Sharks ahead 2-1 and gave them some momentum moving forward.
"It's an incredible play by Karlsson to knock that puck out of the air. The only thing about that goal is we can't have three forwards going with Miro. We've got to have someone backing him up," Montgomery said. "It's something we've struggled with this year. Our last forward in the play has to act like a defenseman, support the play but from behind.
"We got caught. That should have been a 3-on-2, not a 3-on-1."

Three stars of the game

Timo Meier, San Jose:Sharks forward scored two goals, his 17th and 18th of the season.
Erik Karlsson, San Jose: One assist, a plus-2 rating and eight shot attempts for the Sharks defenseman.
Miro Heiskanen, Dallas: Stars defenseman tallied one goal, had four shots on goal and six shot attempts in 23:02 of ice time.

They said it

"If we play like we did the last two nights we are going to win a majority of our hockey games. I am certain of that. I like the way our team is playing right now." - Stars coach Jim Montgomery
"He's so talented. It doesn't look like he gets tired out there. He's been huge for us so far. He's great defensively. He jumps up on every play. He's been able to get on the board for us as well. It's crazy to think he is as young as he is, so it is exciting that he is going to be a part of this organization for a long time." - Stars forward Blake Comeau on Dallas rookie Miro Heiskanen
"It was good to be back in the lineup and it felt pretty good, too. But I really wanted to win this one, but unfortunately we didn't get it done." - Stars defenseman Julius Honka, who recorded an assist, on returning to the lineup after being scratched the past seven games.
"I thought that was Honka's best game of the year. I thought he moved the puck, he was jumping. I thought he was more involved in the involved in the attack." - Montgomery.

Fast facts

What's next

The Stars wrap up their four-game road trip Saturday in Denver where they will take on the Avalanche for the second time this season. Colorado won the first meeting, 3-2, at Pepsi Center on November 24.

Stars lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Devin Shore - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Valeri Nichushkin - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell - Julius Honka
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Joel Hanley - Taylor Fedun
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Martin Hanzal, Gavin Bayreuther
Injured: John Klingberg (hand), Marc Methot (knee), Connor Carrick (foot), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.