DALLAS -- The San Jose Sharks have let the Dallas Stars know that they have the Pacific Division title in their sights.
Teemu Selanne scored twice as the Sharks stretched their unbeaten streak to nine games Monday night with a 4-1 victory over the Stars.
Vincent Damphousse had two assists, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 21 shots as the Pacific Division-leading Sharks won their fifth straight to move five points ahead of the second-place Stars.
San Jose is 8-0-1 in its last nine games.
"We´re playing with confidence and we´re on a good roll right now," Selanne said. "This team just keeps getting better and better."
Mike Ricci and Selanne gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead in the opening 9:37, and Selanne and Stephane Matteau added goals over a 51-second span of the third period.
Jamie Langenbrunner scored the only goal for the Stars, 7-2 in their previous nine games.
The Stars have won three straight Pacific Division titles, overcoming the Sharks´ early-season lead with a late charge last season. But the Stars also realize that this is a much-improved San Jose team.
"They´re on top of their game right now," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They were better tonight in pretty much every area. We have too many players below the bar right now, and they have everybody on board. It´s us that´s going to have to get better because they´re not going to fall back."
San Jose came out aggressively and got the game´s first goal when Ricci scored his ninth from the slot 4:04 after the opening faceoff.
The Sharks capitalized on Langenbrunner´s double minor for high-sticking, making it 2-0 just 5:33 later on Selanne´s power-play rebound.
"We talked about coming out hard early," Ricci said. "Against a team like Dallas, you can´t let them get a lead. It was big for us to go ahead early."
Langenbrunner cut the deficit to 2-1 at 6:21 of the second period with his sixth goal on a blast from the right circle.
But San Jose put the game away when Selanne scored his 13th on a rebound with 16:12 to play. Matteau added his second on a breakaway with 15:21 remaining to make it 4-1.
"It´s a good feeling when the puck is following you around," Selanne said. "I read where the puck was going to be in on both goals."
Dallas was 4-1-2 in its previous seven games against San Jose, including a win and a tie this season.
"They´re the measuring stick right now, and they outplayed us," Stars center Kirk Muller said. "Tonight was probably the biggest game of the year for us and we didn´t take advantage at home. They´re better than we are. They´ve got a lot of proud players over there."
Notes: Stars D Darryl Sydor was scratched as a precaution after sustaining a concussion in a game last Friday. Sydor has passed neurological tests, and the team expects him back for Thursday night´s game at Philadelphia. The Stars recalled rookie John Erskine from Utah of the AHL. Erskine started on the top defensive pair with captain Derian Hatcher. ... Erskine got in the face of San Jose captain Owen Nolan midway through the second period, and baited him into a roughing penalty. ... The Stars are 6-6-4-2 at home, 8-4-2-1 on the road.
