Halfway through his team's first-round playoff series against Calgary, San Jose Sharks coach Ron Wilson frequently changed his forward combinations in an attempt to throw the Flames off balance.
It worked for the most part, but now Dallas Stars bench boss Dave Tippett has thrown that strategy back in Wilson's face.
On Sunday, Tippett replaced Joel Lundqvist with Niklas Hagman in the second period alongside centre Brad Richards and watched the move pay off in a big way, with the pair combining for three goals and six points in four-goal third to lead Dallas to a come-from-behind 5-2 win.
There is talk Tippett will keep them together for Game 3 of a NHL Western Conference semifinal on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. CT) in hopes of taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
"Hagman has good speed and had good energy, and they were working well together," Tippett said of the Richards-Hagman tandem.
So was the Stars' top unit of Mike Ribeiro between Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen, which forced turnovers in the Sharks' zone with a relentless forecheck throughout Game 2. They were also responsible for erasing a 1-0 San Jose lead late in the first period, courtesy of Ribeiro.
Meanwhile, the Sharks' No. 1 line of Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek created few scoring chances for a second straight game. However, the latter did manage to split the defence pair of Trevor Daley and Sergei Zubov in the second period and beat goaltender Marty Turco to restore San Jose's one-goal advantage for his second goal in as many games.
Problem is, the Sharks were guilty of sitting on that lead, failing to get a shot on goal for a 12-minute stretch.
It proved costly against an opportunistic Stars outfit that was outshot 31-26 on the night but converted its first power-play opportunity at 3:39 of the third period to snap a 2-2 tie, and never looked back.
San Jose gave up the puck too much, lost battles along the boards, went 1-for-5 with the man advantage and didn't get a huge stop from netminder Evgeni Nabokov when it mattered most.
Nabokov, who was pulled in favour of Brian Boucher with less than three minutes left in regulation, has a .883 save percentage in this post-season, last among playoff goalies. Turco, on the other hand, boasts a .944 mark after making 29 saves in Game 2.
Fortunately for the Sharks they have had success in Dallas, winning three of four meetings in the regular season. Nabokov and company also had the NHL's best road record in 2007-08 at 27-10-4.
"We've been counted out a number of times this year. We'll bounce back," Wilson said. "Our record showed that during the season that we're the best road team in the NHL. Now we have a chance to prove that.
"We're down 2-0; we can relax now and just push the pace. It's as simple as that — play as a desperate hockey team."
But they'll need more production from the likes of Patrick Marleau (no points in series) Thornton (one), Cheechoo (two) and Ryan Clowe, who lit up Calgary with four goals and eight points in seven games but has been held off the scoresheet in four consecutive starts.
"When push comes to shove, this team rises to the occasion," Marleau said. "We are going to have to prove that again."
Dallas will be looking to prove it can put an opponent away. In Round 1, the Stars had a 2-0 series lead against the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks and dropped Game 3 on home ice, only to rebound with victories in Games 4 and 6 at American Airlines Center.
"We don't want to think we're in the driver's seat," said Morrow, Dallas' captain. "If they get to 2-1, they're right back in the series. It's a big concern for us but, hopefully, we learned our lesson when Anaheim came in and pushed us around."
The home team has won three of the past 16 games between the Sharks and Stars dating to last season.
Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT, with Game 5 — if necessary — in San Jose on Friday (7 p.m. PT).
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Contact Us About Us HomeThursday, January 8th, 2009