Fear the Fin? No, Dallas Certainly Doesn't

Especially when in San Jose.

Rewind about five years ago on a January night when San Jose was leading the division, Dallas was 7 points back and in danger of missing the playoffs...and they responded by completely shutting down the Sharks in a 3-0 win.

Last night's win reminded me of that game. For whatever reason, the Stars have always seemed to play well at San Jose when they seem to be in disarray. And it should also serve as a reminder to the Sharks that if they meet up with the Stars in the first round this season, they'll be facing an opponent that will be entering the series without any shortage of confidence considering Dallas went 2-1 in San Jose last spring in their second round playoff series and is 3-0 all time against the Sharks in the post-season.

Yeah, I know the Sharks will still win the season series against Dallas no matter what. And one of those games included a 6-2 post-Thanksgiving drubbing in Dallas.

The other three games coming into last night's contest have been competitive affairs, however.

• Dallas should have gotten at least a point out of their contest back on November 8th before Marty Turco inexplicably put the puck right on the stick of Patrick Marleau and gift wrapped a game winner to San Jose.
• On December 29th, the Stars lost 3-1 despite outshooting the Sharks 29-19. Evgeni Nabakov made 28 stops in the game.
• And then eight days ago, the Stars probably played the best game they've play all year that they've lost by, once again, limiting the Sharks to under 25 shots. In this one, the only difference between the two teams was a blistering Devin Setoguchi wrister that just eluded Turco's glove and went into the net for the only score of the game.

Lastly, you'll notice my first official contribution here at DFD was a fanshot referencing the injuries to Mike Grier and Jeremy Roenick last night. Safe to say the Sharks really missed the grit those two contribute to the Sharks game. Their injuries could prove to be a little worrisome in the Bay Area if they're out closer to six weeks than four, no matter who their first round opponent is.