The Empire Strikes First

Okay, so the Evil Empire just blew up Alderaan.

With Marty Turco playing this well, the Dallas Stars are going to be very tough to beat, and already the Sharks are in a 1-0 hole after losing tonight 3-2 in overtime. San Jose played reasonably well tonight, and that effort I've been looking for was there, but some aspects of their game are going to have to improve if they're going to come back and win this series.

First of all, the penalty killing remains a major problem. Dallas' first goal came on the power play, and would've been scored even if minor penalties were only fifteen seconds in length (Devin Setoguchi went into the box at 5:53 of the second period, and the Stars promptly won the faceoff and scored thirteen seconds later). This type of thing happened multiple times against Calgary, too. The penalty kill at the end of regulation, with Brian Campbell in the box, also looked very shaky, but the Sharks were aided by a questionable hand-pass call against Dallas and managed to take the game to overtime. Note to the Sharks' coaching staff: Please fix the penalty kill. Thanks. Yours truly, Team Teal in the Twin Towns.

Also, I think Evgeni Nabokov has to play better. He's playing okay--although he looked awfully frantic on the sequence that led to the game-winning goal, and was consequently out of position for Brenden Morrow's shot--but if Turco continues to play great, the Sharks can't win this series with Nabby only playing well. He has to find some brilliance and make some stops that he has no business making. It's a disproportionate burden to put on a single player, but that's the nature of playoff goaltending.

Positives from tonight? Milan Michalek got a lucky break, getting credited with a goal when a shot he launched after (once again) nearly stickhandling himself into oblivion managed to trickle into the Dallas net. Maybe that'll break the ice and get him going. Also, the Sharks deserve credit for fighting their way back to the 2-2 tie that sent the game to overtime; traditionally, the Stars are unsurpassed in their ability to put a stranglehold on an offense and protect a lead, so it ought to be good for San Jose's morale that they were able to come back and get a late goal.

Game Two Sunday.