"During Todd McLellan's first two seasons as coach, the Sharks basically owned the third period, outscoring teams by a wide margin over the course of 82 games.

This season, however, the final period has been something of a disaster for San Jose.

Thursday night's 4-3 overtime victory in Dallas was the fourth time this season the Sharks have failed to hold a lead in the game's final 20 minutes. But it also widened San Jose's third-period scoring deficit that already was at seven going into the game, as the Sharks have scored 25 goals and allowed 32.

"You always want to get stronger in games so it tells the tale of a lot of things," Joe Pavelski said before Thursday night's game against Dallas. "If we were plus-7 right now, I think we'd have another three or four wins."

Last season, the Sharks outscored their opponents 89-62 in the final period; in the previous season, the margin was 72-58.

"We obviously need to change that," McLellan said before the Dallas game of this year's numbers. "But there's no magic wand or anything like that. You've got to continue to go out and play the game the way you did the first two periods and put a little pressure around the net."

Suggest to McLellan that the numbers might seem to indicate a problem with physical conditioning, and he shakes his head."