Five for Fighting

Neal scores

Matt Niskanen's shot yields a nice little rebound, and James Neal punches it in to put the Stars up 1-0 at 5:58. Chris Conner got possession deep in the Jackets' zone to start it all off. Niskanen and Mike Modano on the assists.

Robidas just took a penalty, so the Jackets have a power play coming up... and that lasted a whole four seconds. Christian Huselius just took a hook.

Ribeiro scores

That's a way to end a good period, eh?

Matt Niskanen came off the bench to get a rebound that was sliding toward the blue line, James Neal got a piece of it and Mike Ribeiro taps in the puck at the goal line for a 2-1 Stars lead. That one comes with 32 seconds remaining in the second period, and it was another sign of the Stars waking up in this period.

Matt Niskanen and Cory Stillman got into it at the end of the period, following a little scrum in front of the net. So a fighter vs. a non-fighter, and guess what happens. Yeah, Stillman gives Niskanen a good rap. Ouch.

Niskanen scores

The Stars needed to get something on the power play, and another defensemen makes it work.

Matt Niskanen recovers the pass from Steve Ott (Jere Lehtinen got a piece of it on the way over), and his shot beats Ryan Miller stick side to give the Stars a 1-0 lead at the 10:44 mark. That's the kind of start the Stars need, especially if they get a few chances on the man advantage. The Stars had good rotation on that first one, good possession and never left their zone.

And I believe they're about to get another power play... Drew Stafford heading to the box again, this time for hooking.

Niskanen on a weird one

Matt Niskanen shoots one that deflects off Sharks defenseman Alexei Semenov's glove and in. Now it was originally waived off by the officials, much to the Stars and fans' aggravation. But upon further review, the Stars are awarded the goal.

Unassisted, at 14:57. Stars are about to go on power play No. 6 after the break.

Niskanen ties it

Matt Niskanen comes through and shoots what looks like a harmless little wrister with time running down in the first... but it hits the inside of Martin Gerber's right leg and trickles in as the Stars tie it with 50.9 seconds remaining in the period. Not a bad way to end it, as they outshot the Sens 14-6 in the period and had some decent traffic around the net. That second power play in the period, however, woof. Ugly.