Pitlick Scores Twice, Bishop And Stars Beat Sharks 6-0
DALLAS (AP) — Ben Bishop is getting regular work, and he and the Dallas Stars have been playing some of their best hockey of the season.
Bishop made 26 saves in his fourth shutout of the season, Tyler Pitlick scored twice and the Stars beat the San Jose Sharks 6-0 on Sunday night.
Bishop's 23rd career shutout came in his seventh straight start. It was Dallas' fourth win in five games.
In the first two games of a six-game homestand, the Stars have outscored opponents 10-2. The first five games are all two days apart.
"We kind of had a real hard one there before this homestand, a lot of in-and-outs, so it's kind of nice to have this homestand," Bishop said. "We've done a good job so far. It's going to be kind of important to enjoy this one and obviously get some rest (Monday)."
Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said there are few breaks in the schedule.
"We've made a little bit of ground, and we've created no separation," he said. "This is the way it's going to be for the rest of the year. It doesn't seem like anybody's missing a beat right now, especially in the Central."
Dallas scored two goals in each period — by John Klingberg and Pitlick in the first, Stephen Johns and Tyler Seguin in the second and Devin Shore and Pitlick 50 seconds apart in the third.
"I thought this was Pitlick's strongest game," Hitchcock said. "He stayed determined on the puck."
San Jose starter Martin Jones had 18 saves in the first two periods before giving way to Aaron Dell, who stopped eight shots.
The Sharks' three-game winning streak ended with their most lopsided loss this season. The poor road performance came as San Jose began a stretch with 14 of 18 games on the road.
"I don't look at this like we've been a poor road team. This was a poor game tonight," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "I don't think it's a symptom of something bigger. It was just a bad night."
Klingberg added an assist on Seguin's 19th goal of the season, a power-play score. Radek Faksa tied his career high with three assists and Mattias Janmark assisted twice.
The Stars had the game's first six shots on goal and cashed in on their seventh. Janmark circled behind the net and passed to Klingberg near the right faceoff dot. He sent a shot past Jones at 6:19, and then Pitlick gave Dallas a 2-0 lead at 15:07.
Dallas had 17 shots, their most in the first period this season, to five for San Jose. The Sharks had a chance with a power play to begin the second, but Bishop stopped the first six shots on goal. Logan Couture sent one shot into the right goalpost and another into the goalie's pads.
"We didn't play very well," Couture said. "Pretty simple. Left our goalies out to dry. I feel bad for those two. They battled and no one else did."
The teams were skating 4-on-4 when Johns scored at 4:25 of the second.
Seguin skated in front to deflect Klingberg's shot into the top of the net on the power play.
NOTES: Dallas RW Alexander Radulov left in the second period with an upper-body injury from a hit by Sharks D Justin Braun. ... The Stars have scored a power-play goal in six straight games, following a stretch of 14 games with only two goals with a man advantage. ... Benn has seven points (three goals, four assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Couture, who leads San Jose with 15 goals, returned after missing four games because of a concussion. ... The Sharks had not allowed more than five goals in a game before Sunday. ... The six-goal win was Dallas' largest margin of victory. ... Pitlick has seven goals this season. Three times he has scored twice in a game.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Play the second game on a five-game trip on Tuesday night at Montreal.
Stars: Host Columbus on Tuesday night.
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