Shore shines in win over Sharks, but Stars lose Klingberg

Devin Shore scored two goals, including the game-winner with 5:47 remaining, as the Dallas Stars opened their four-game homestand with a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks Thursday night at American Airlines Center.
Like some of their wins on the recent road trip, the Stars found a way to win despite being outshot by a wide-margin. Thursday night, San Jose had a 36-22 advantage in shots.
"That's a big testament to our goaltending, which is awesome, and capitalizing on chances when they're there," Shore said. "Not every game is the same and sometimes they're a little prettier or uglier, whatever you want to call it. But, it's a results-driven league and we got the win tonight, so that's the main thing."

Tyler Seguin and Gemel Smith also scored in Thursday's win and Anton Khudobin stopped 33 shots as the Stars improved to 9-6-1 on the season and 6-2-0 at home.
But the win came at a cost for the Stars. Defenseman John Klingberg left the game six minutes into the third period after blocking a shot by San Jose's Evander Kane. Klingberg, who was hit in the left arm/hand area by the puck, is expected to miss some extended time.

"He's got an upper-body injury and we'll know more tomorrow after he sees the doctors, but you've got to figure at least three weeks," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "We're hoping for the best, but we think it's going to be a while."
The Stars are already down several defensemen, including Marc Methot (lower body), Connor Carrick (foot), and Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches). There are injuries on defense with the Texas Stars of the AHL as well, including Gavin Bayreuther.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for the young men who get called up," Montgomery said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for guys like (Julius) Honka and Miro (Heiskanen) to establish themselves in the NHL and be go-to guys."
The Sharks (8-5-3) lost in regulation for just the second time in the past 10 games (6-2-2).
"Strange game. I thought we had good energy and good legs. I liked our first period. Then I looked up and we're down 3-1," said Sharks coach Peter DeBoer. "We shot ourselves in the foot. We made some soft plays with the puck or poor decisions. They're a team that can stick it into the back of the net."

The Stars opened the scoring on a nice passing sequence off the rush that went from Valeri Nichushkin to Seguin to Shore, who scored from the left circle at the 8:57 mark to put Dallas up 1-0.
The Sharks answered at 14:18 of the first when Timo Meier split the Dallas defense, took a centering pass from Kevin Labanc and scored from close range to tie the game 1-1.
The Stars scored two goals in 45 seconds in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Seguin put the Stars ahead 2-1 at the 6:57 mark, picking off a Brenden Dillon pass in the San Jose zone and scoring from the slot to snap a personal 12-game goal scoring drought.
"It's great," Seguin said of scoring his first goal since Oct. 9. "I can breathe again."
Then Smith made it 3-1 at the 7:42 mark, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play involving Jason Dickinson and Heiskanen.

Khudobin stopped Rourke Chartier on a breakaway to keep it a 3-1 game, but the Sharks cut the lead to 3-2 at 11:17 of the second when Joe Pavelski redirected a Brent Burns shot from the right point into the net.
Just 30 seconds later, the Sharks went on a four-minute power play after Radek Faksa took a double-minor for high sticking, but the Stars penalty kill came up big and kept it a 3-2 game.
Stars captain Jamie Benn had a chance to extend the lead late in the second, but his breakaway bid was turned away by Sharks goaltender Martin Jones.
The Sharks stepped up the pressure in the third and got the game-tying goal at the 7:46 when Evander Kane scored on an off-speed shot from right circle to make it a 3-3 game.
But Shore snapped the tie with 5:47 left in the game, scoring from the left circle to put the Stars ahead 4-3. And the Stars needed one more big save from Khudobin, who stopped San Jose's Joe Thornton on a breakaway with 1:01 remaining.

Turning point

Sometimes the puck bounces your way and sometimes it doesn't. Thursday night, it bounced the way of the Stars at a crucial time. With the game tied 3-3 late in the third period, Stars defenseman Dillon Heatherington put a shot on net from the left point, Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson blocked it and the puck went right to Stars forward Devin Shore in the left circle and Shore scored into the open side of the net before San Jose goaltender Martin Jones could get into position.
"Hockey is a pretty chaotic game," Shore said. "And the bounce went our way."

Players of the game

Devin Shore, Dallas:Two goals, including the game-winner for the Dallas forward. Shore's five goals this season rank second on the Stars.
Tyler Seguin, Dallas: One goal and one assist for Seguin, who snapped a 12-game goal scoring drought with his second period tally.
Brent Burns, San Jose: Two assists, eight shots on goal and 15 shot attempts for the Sharks defenseman.

They said it

"I think we've toughened up on the road trip and become resilient. A lot of people have confidence in other people which is good long-term. We've got to get better in our team game, we can't continue to rely on goaltenders and the occasional goal to strike ahead. Clearly San Jose was better than we were tonight as a whole." - Stars coach Jim Montgomery on grinding out a win
"Not scoring, you learn a little bit about yourself. I hadn't had a slump like that in a while. I heard there was two 11-game (scoreless streaks) before in the past, but nothing in a while. I think even last year. It was a bit of a mental grind at times. You just want to keep doing good at faceoffs, [penalty kill], all that stuff. Obviously happy to get a result tonight and happy with the win." - Stars center Tyler Seguin on breaking his goal scoring drought
"Things are going a little better early on, but it's an 82-game season. Last game wasn't good for me or our team at all, so we are trying not to get too down and too low. Then tonight things go your way a little bit and you've definitely got to put it behind you and move forward. The season is so long and it's such a grind, you can't ride the rollercoaster too much. So you take the good times when you can, but you've got to come to practice tomorrow ready to work."- Stars forward Devin Shore on his start to the season

Stat pack

What's next

The Stars host the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon at 1. The Predators (12-3-0) won their fourth straight game Wednesday, defeating the Colorado Avalanche, 4-1, in Denver.

Stars lineup

Valeri Nichushkin - Tyler Seguin - Devin Shore
Jamie Benn - Jason Spezza - Denis Gurianov
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Gemel Smith
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Dillon Heatherington - Julius Honka
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched:None
Injured:Alexander Radulov (lower body), Marc Methot (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper-body infection/inflammation), Connor Carrick (foot), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)

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.