Dallas Stars v San Jose Sharks Live

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After a year in the lottery and subsequent off-season changes, the Dallas Stars look much better than in 2008-09 and are highly motivated to stay in the playoff race down the stretch. Thus, Brad Richards and company will travel to San Jose where they will face the Sharks at HP Pavillion on Friday at 3:30 a.m. GMT.

Albeit the Sharks struggled a bit in the first weeks of play, they quickly got back to the top of the Western Conference as the overhauled team of coach Todd McLlelan put together an impressive run. Scoring 3.4 goals per game, San Jose’s offense has been on fire and steamrolled most of their opponents. The fact that All-Star Dany Heatley is only the third leading scorer on the team underlines the outstanding offensive firing power that the Sharks showcased in this year’s NHL campaign. More specifically, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and the aforementioned Heatley combined for no less than 63 points in just 18 games. Moreover, San Jose performed fairly decent at the other end of the ice as well, led by goalie Evgeni Nabokov who allowed just 2.14 goals per contest, posting an excellent .925 save percentage.

In contrast, the Dallas Stars are just hanging in the playoff mix and are hoping for a post-season appearance in 2009-10. Even though the team around Brad Richards had no trouble finding the net with 54 goals in 17 games, they showed significant shortcomings defensively. In fact, the Stars allowed 3.1 goals per contest and experienced frequent defensive breakdowns. That said, they could be able to give the Sharks a run for their money on a good night. However, it is more likely that the combination of Dallas’ poor defense and San Jose’s high octane offense could lead to the game going the Sharks’ way. Ultimately, Dany Heatley and the Sharks have a much deeper team and a considerably more talent on their roster.

You can watch all games of the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.