Game Recap

DALLAS 3, SAN JOSE 2 (OT) SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Mike Keane scored the winning goal as the Dallas Stars finally conquered the underdog San Jose Sharks with a 3-2 overtime victory Saturday night to move on to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Sharks, the eighth seed in their conference, had threatened to take the series back to Dallas for Game 7 by jumping ahead 2-0 in the game. But Dallas battled back with two straight goals in the second period and the game-winner at 3:43 into overtime. Keane took a pass from Darryl Sydor and beat fallen Sharks goaltender Mike Vernon, who faced 28 shots. That wrapped up the series in six games and sent the Stars on to the Western Conference semifinals. The Stars had lost their last five overtime games in the playoffs, including Game 4 of the series against the Sharks. "This would have been a tough pill to swallow, after losing that many overtimes," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said. "There's a tremendous feeling of relief in our locker room." Dallas goalie Ed Belfour stopped 19 shots. Officials determined after video review that forward Joe Murphy did not purposely kick the puck past Belfour on a power play -- giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead. The Sharks went up 2-0 when Mike Ricci deftly maneuvered the puck around Belfour at 7:51 into the second period. But Dallas, which finished with the NHL's best regular-season record, closed the gap just three minutes later with Richard Matvichuk's goal against Vernon. The Stars tied it when Keane knocked in a pass from Mike Modano -- on a Sharks power play. "The best team won. Modano was a dominant player when he had to be and I think their defense, in the end, was really, really good," said Sharks coach Darryl Sutter. "As the series went on, their defense jumped into the play a lot more and was more of a factor." The game was marked by the sellout crowd's almost incessant taunting of Belfour, who was traded to San Jose from the Blackhawks last season but played just 13 games with the Sharks before leaving for Dallas as a free agent. Even after Keane's game-winning goal, the fans awarded the Sharks with a standing ovation. Dallas Stars 3, SAN JOSE SHARKS 2 (OT) 1ST 2ND 3RD OT FINAL --- --- --- --- ----- DALLAS 0 2 0 1 3 SAN JOSE 1 1 0 0 2 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, San Jose, Murphy 1 (Craven, Nicholls), 16:25 (pp). PENALTIES: Houlder, SJ (hooking), 3:06; Lowry, SJ (holding), 11:27; Hatcher, Dal (hooking), 16:13; Chambers, Dal (hooking), 17:17. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 2, San Jose, Ricci 1 (MacLean, Matteau), 7:51. 3, Dallas, Matvichuk 1 (Skrudland), 10:59. 4, Dallas, Keane 1 (Modano), 16:04 (sh). PENALTIES: Verbeek, Dal (hooking), 14:58. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: None. OVERTIME - SCORING: 5, Dallas, Keane 2 (Sydor), 3:43. PENALTIES: None. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- DALLAS 7 9 11 1 28 SAN JOSE 7 7 5 2 21 POWER PLAY: Dallas 0 of 2; San Jose 1 of 3. GOALIES: Dallas, Belfour 4-2 (21 shots-19 saves). San Jose, Vernon 2-4 (28-25). Referee: Dan Marouelli. Linesmen: Gordon Broseker, Pierre Racicot. A: 17,483 (17,483).