SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks were quicker than the Detroit Red Wings Friday, dominated them territorially after the first period and outshot them by a wide margin.

But the Red Wings still had a chance to steal the game, thanks to the outstanding play of goaltender Jimmy Howard.

That opportunity ended at 7:03 of overtime, when Benn Ferriero scored on a shot that deflected in off the stick of defenseman Brad Stuart, giving the Sharks a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals at HP Pavilion.

“I thought they were better than us,'' Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “Especially up front, I didn't think we skated very good. They were quicker than we were.

“We took too many penalties. You can't be in the penalty box and expect to survive. They had 14 power-play shots. I thought that was a huge factor in the game. Even though the (winning) score didn't come on the power play, they wear you out on the power play.''

The winning goal came 20 seconds after Detroit killed a four-minute high-sticking penalty on Justin Abdelkader.

It came from the unlikeliest of sources. Ferriero was making his NHL playoff debut. And he did it on his 24th birthday, which, oddly enough, spoiled Babcock's 48th birthday.

“They were just throwing pucks at the net, hoping for a rebound or something to happen,'' Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “It went off Stewie's stick, put Howie in a bad spot. He kind of froze on it.''

“Lucky goal for them,'' Stuart said.

He was so angry he flung his stick about 50 feet after the goal.

“I was pretty (ticked) off, that's what happens when you lose on a (crappy) goal like that,'' Stuart said. “We'll get over it.''

Ferriero played only 5:33, but was in the right place at the right time.

"The puck ended up in the corner. (Logan) Couture and Abdelkader were fighting for it,'' Ferriero said. "(Coture) poked it away a little bit. I was able to swing in there and grab it.

"We tried to throw pucks to (Howard's) feet all night long and get rebounds. I turned out of the corner and threw it to the net. It hit a stick and took a good bounce.''

The Sharks are 4-0 in overtime in this year's playoffs.

The loss spoiled Howard's 44-save performance. The Sharks outshot Detroit 46-25. After a good first period by the Red Wings – Lidstrom scored at 9:30 put them ahead 1-0 – they were outshot 37-17 the rest of the way.

“We got off to a great start, took the lead in the first period, things were looking good,'' Howard said. “As the game continued on they kept funneling pucks to the net, putting it deep and going in and hitting our D, making it tough on our D.''

Howard stymied the Sharks for nearly 2½ periods before San Jose scored on its third power play as Joe Pavelski tied it at 10:22 of the third period while Todd Bertuzzi was in the penalty box for boarding Pavelski.

After a long shot by Joe Thornton, Pavelski went to the net and batted the rebound in out of the air.

The Red Wings killed a slashing penalty on Patrick Eaves with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation.

San Jose was 1 for 6 on the power play. Detroit was 0 for 2.

Asked if he had any issue with the penalties, Babcock said, “I had a problem with lots of the penalties -- we shouldn't have taken them.

“They're penalties, what are you going to do? You can't take penalties, you got to look after your stick. Could they have had a couple more? Maybe. But the team that has the puck the most is going to take the least penalties.''

The Red Wings were coming off an eight-day break following their first-round sweep of Phoenix and could not match San Jose's energy level.

“We needed the layoff. No excuses for anything,'' Babcock said. “We just got to come back and play better. We weren't good enough.''

“Howie was good. I thought our penalty kill was good. I didn't mind my (defense) at all. They had too much wear and tear on them and their D had a night off. We didn't touch them. We weren't physical in their zone. We have to be way better than that.''

Howard was at his best in the second period, when San Jose outshot Detroit 18-9. He made a brilliant glove save to rob Pavelski a little more than four minutes into the period.

A couple of minutes later, Howard made several stops during a Sharks' power play. Midway through the period, Howard roughed it up with Pavelski, taking exception to the forward giving him a snow shower and making contact with him after a save.

“It's playoffs, just emotions there,'' Howard said. “I'll leave it at that.''

The Red Wings led 1-0 after the first period on Lidstrom's first goal of the playoffs at 9:30. After winning an offensive-zone faceoff, Pavel Datsyuk skated around with the puck before passing to the high slot to Lidstrom, who one-timed it past Antti Niemi.

It was Lidstrom's 51st career playoff goal, moving him ahead of Sergei Fedorov into sole possession of third place on the franchise's career list. Only Steve Yzerman (70) and Gordie Howe (67) rank ahead of him.

For Detroit, Henrik Zetterberg made his playoff debut after sitting out three weeks with a sprained left knee and Johan Franzen (no shots on goal) was back after missing Game 4 against the Coyotes due to a sore left ankle.

“I think we played an overall good game,'' Zetterberg said. “We created a lot of chances. I think it was a back and forth game. The Sharks will spend some time in our end. We'll spend some time in their end. It was a lengthy power play for them in overtime. Our guys got a little tired, the puck wound up in our net.''

Said Stuart: “At the end of the day we had a chance to win, just a bad bounce. I don't think overall we were giving up a whole lot.''