DALLAS — Back to the Shark Tank. Milan Michalek scored on a power play with 16:34 left and San Jose beat Dallas 2-1 on Wednesday night to avoid being swept in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Sharks were 0-for-4 on power plays in Game 4 before getting another chance early in the third period when Mike Modano drew a delay of game penalty for knocking a puck into the stands. Brian Campbell made a cross-ice pass to Joe Thornton, who then pushed the puck back to the front of the net, through the legs of Jonathan Cheechoo and onto Michalek’s stick.
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau had tied the game with another short-handed goal, getting one after a turnover by Sergei Zubov for the second game in a row.
Game 5 is Friday night in San Jose, where the Stars won the first two games of the series. The visiting team has won 14 of the past 18 games between the Pacific Division rivals, dating to last season.
The Stars missed a chance for their first postseason series sweep since 1999, when they beat Edmonton in the first round and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Dallas still has three more chances to advance to the Western Conference finals.
Like he did in Game 3 on Tuesday, Marleau converted a mistake by Zubov, this time midway through the second period.
Zubov lost the puck near the blue line in the Stars zone, and Marleau charged down the ice and shot the puck past Marty Turco. It was the fourth goal of the playoffs for Marleau, and gave him 24 since 2003-04, matching Calgary’s Jarome Iginla for the most during that period.
The short-hander came right after Brad Richards’ shot got past Evgeni Nabokov, but ricocheted off the far upper corner of the goal. That shot, and another by Trevor Daley, came during the delayed whistle before the power play that led to Marleau’s tying goal.

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