Evgeni Nabokov stopped 24 shots for the Sharks, and Turco made 19 saves in yet another playoff game to forget. Turco was working on a shutout before he and his defense allowed three goals in less than 15 minutes.

After holding off the defending champion Ducks in the first round, Dallas opened the second round with back-to-back victories at the Shark Tank, where the Stars were 8-0-1 in their past nine appearances before blowing Game 5. San Jose staved off elimination with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 in Dallas, the third of four one-goal games in this scintillating series.

“Every game we lose, we give them more life, but I like our position better than theirs,” Morrow said. “The third period was our downfall. We have to move on, earn our breaks. We earned this 3-2 lead.”

Lehtinen got Game 5’s first goal midway through the second period on a setup pass from Sergei Zubov for his fourth goal of the postseason. After Mike Modano rang a shot off the post moments later, Morrow appeared to score when he forced defenseman Matt Carle into Nabokov’s crease and the puck deflected off them.

Replay officials ruled Morrow had scored with his skate, infuriating the Dallas bench — but Morrow then left no doubt with a low wrist shot through Nabokov in the final minute of the second period.

Morrow put the puck in the net again during a power play early in the third, but the on-ice officials ruled he had knocked it in with his hand. The call was upheld by a lengthy video review.

Notes: Sharks D Kyle McLaren is still out with a groin injury, and Dallas F Stu Barnes missed his second straight game with a head injury. McLaren and Dallas D Philippe Boucher missed the entire series. ... After Morrow’s first apparent goal was waved off, he put a white towel on the end of his stick in hockey’s famed gesture of mock surrender. Veteran coach Roger Neilson is credited with starting the white-towel gesture when he didn’t like the officiating in a 1982 playoff game while he coached the Vancouver Canucks. ... The club scoring first has lost all five games in the series.

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