The game started out good for Dallas. Mike Modano found a loose puck the he put in the back of the net to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. That is about when Joe Thorton decided to take the game into his own hands. His presence behind Marty Turco was huge. His line was the spark that pretty much ended the Stars night. The Sharks rattled of 5 consecutive goals on Dallas.
The Stars were over-matched the entire night. They had absolutly no rhythem to their game, and no answer for neither Johnathan Cheechoo nor Joe Thorton. However the "never say die" attitude of the Stars shown through in the third period when they got 2 back to back goals to make things interesting at least. Then in the final few minutes San Jose got their 6th goal with Turco on the bench.
Dallas will now have to regroup and get ready for the Los Angelas Kings. The environnment should be considerably less hostil on Sunday afternoon in LA, and Dallas will be playing a team that was is not as good as the Sharks. Sunday's gamee will be the last one before the Olympic Break.

The Stars opened their last road trip before the break in front of a meager crowd in Phoenix on Thursday night. Coach Tippet decided to rest starting golie Marty Turco tonight after putting up an impressive few games. Hedburg got the start tonight, and things were going his way from the start. The Coyotes started hot with a number of shots at the Stars net, with most of the time of the first period played in the Stars zone. Hedburg was on his game tonight however. He lasted long enough for Dallas to get the offence started.
The Stars got goals from Bill Guerin, Brendon Morrow, and plenty from Niko Kapanen. Niko scored his first career hat trick to put the icing on the cake for Dallas. This was exactly the kind of start the team needed for this road trip.
Friday night, the Stars head to San Jose to play the Sharks. Friday's game should be much more up tempo and exciting than this one. Playing in front of a packed crowed in a fierce rival's arena will be a little bit different than playing in front of a virtually empty stadium against a very distracted team.

The Dallas Stars look ready for their last little streach befor heading into the Olympic break. They start the three game trip on Thursday night against the division rivals, Pheonix Coyotes. The Stars have looked good in the past few games and it would be a huge momentum boost for the team to get a quality win against Pheonix.

Bill Guerin was most likely amoung the happiest guys on Monday night as he got his first goal in what feels like forever. His goal with under a second left in the second period gave the Stars their first lead of the game. It also helped put a stop the the fluidity of the Nashville attack. After that goal, the Preds never quite looked the same.
Dallas added a couple more goals in the game, one coming on a brokken play where Dallas had a wide open shot at an open net.
This was a very physical game, and a tough way to go into a three game road trip, but they got the win. And that is what is important. Dallas will have three games coming up in the final week before the Olympic break.

The Stars could not keep their winning streak alive on saturday afternoon as they lost to the St. Louis Blues. The heavily favored Stars never really got going with their game plan as once again the Blues golie Curtis Sanford was spectacular in the upset. Dallas fell bbehind early and was playing catch up the eniter game. They did in the third as Lehtinen took a crisp pass from Jussi Jokenin to tie the game at 3. Arnott had a breakaway chance in the final seconds of the game to put win the game, but was stoned on the play by Sanford. St. Louis caight a break in OT as a shot that was deflected off of Stars defensman Stephan Robidas snuck under the pads of Turco.
Dallas plays Nashville on Monday night at home. Then the team goes on a tough road trip that takes them through Pheonix, Los Angeles, and San Jose.

Dallas finally got a win on Wednesday night that did not require them to come from behind in the last remaining moments of the third period. Possibly even more important than that was the fact that they played a really good team really hard. One of the top teams in the league, as well as one of the most surprising, the Nashville Predators came to town Wednesday night and faced a Dallas squad that knew another game in OT would not bode well for the nerves of the fans. Personally, I may have developed a grey hair or two from those four straight OT games. The Stars had to withstand a late rush by the Preds in the last moments of the game to hold their one goal lead. However, Nashville could not capitalize on a 6 on 4 situation late in the game which insured Dallas' winning streak.
The Stars next game is on Saturday Feb. 4, when the stars travel to St. Louis to play the blues. A team which they have not lost to in the 5 games the teams have played so far.