The San Jose Sharks pulled off an impressive 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars at the HP Pavilion on Saturday. Alison Phagan, who is local to San Jose and has been a Sharks fan since the end of her Senior Year in High School, said that the Shark’s key to victory against the Stars would be to “out hit, out skate, and get in Turco’s (the Star’s goalie) head.” The Sharks took most of Phagan’s advice. After the Stars got the first goal of the game, the Sharks rebounded with two goals of their own, ending the first period with a score of 2-1. The Sharks also got into a few scrums, which are basically roughhousing. The players did not have to use their skills to get inside Turco’s head, however. The thousands of fans present during the game would constantly mock Turco. The second period started off slow, until, with 5:43 left in the period, Joe Pavelski scored the third goal for the Sharks. Then, immediately after Pavelski’s goal, with 5:24 left in the period, Milan Michalek scored a goal, giving the Sharks a 4-1 lead heading into the final period. At this point, Keith Ellis from Fremont said that the Sharks are playing very well, with Pavelski probably playing the best out of the bunch. He said as long as they keep playing this hard they will bring home a victory.In the beginning of the third and final period, Robidas for the Stars scored their second goal of the game with a screened pass from the point, with 14:43 remaining in the period. Following this goal, things were not looking good for the Sharks. Rob Blake and Marcel Goc both received injuries which took them out of commission, and an errant shot by Joe Thornton took out Jonathan Cheechoo. Then, with approximately 1:30 to go in regulation, the Sharks received a penalty, giving the Stars a one-man advantage. The Stars also pulled their goalie, giving them a commanding two-man advantage but also an empty net. Patrick Marleau, the Shark’s team captain, was able to break away with the puck and put it into the empty net, sealing the Shark’s victory. Amidst the end game triumph, Chris Keiser, another resident of San Jose, commented that the Sharks won the physical battle and “gave an all-around good effort.” He also said that Evgeni Nabokov, the goalie for the Sharks, kept them in the game early on. Mike Lyons, also from San Jose, said that the whole team contributed and that they played the “best second half I’ve seen in a while”. This was a much needed victory for the Sharks. Phagan says they began their season by totally dominating the first two months. By the end of December, however, they were plagued by inconsistent hockey, meaning that they could hang with the best team in one game but then lose to a ‘loser’ team the next game. But then, in their Phoenix game earlier last week, the Sharks battled back from a 0-3 deficit to tie the game with 30 seconds remaining in the game. But then Cheechoo received a penalty and the other team scored. The Sharks had a 90 minute team meeting after the game, and in their last two games, they played like they were the first two months. The Sharks have three more weeks to go before the playoffs, and they are currently number one in their division and number two in their conference.