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Norstrom gives Stars commanding lead over Sharks

Apr 30, 2008 - 5:15 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) -- It wasn't pretty, but the Dallas Stars certainly will take it.

Defenseman Mattias Norstrom scored 4:37 into overtime as the Stars took a commanding three-games-to-none lead in their Western Conference semifinal series with a 2-1 triumph over the San Jose Sharks in Game Three on Tuesday.

It was the second overtime victory of the series for Dallas, as captain Brenden Morrow netted the winning goal in a 3-2 triumph in Game One.

In this one, defenseman Sergei Zubov tallied, Mike Ribeiro recorded two assists and Marty Turco finished with 19 saves for the fifth-seeded Stars, which hosts Game Four on Wednesday with a chance to eliminate the Sharks.

"We'll take it," Morrow said of the win. "We played some real good hockey and we're in a real good position right now. We are finding ways to win hockey games and have gained some steam here. It's a battle. They are good defensively and they do a good job clogging up lanes."

"We're going to try to end their season, and they know that," Norstrom said. "The desperation level will be higher, so we have to match that and exceed it."

Captain Patrick Marleau scored a shorthanded goal and All-Star Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 27 shots for second-seeded San Jose, which is looking to avoid losing in the conference semifinals for the third consecutive season.

"There's no quit in this room," Nabokov said. "All the games have been pretty close. We've been leading two games in the third (period). It's been little bounces here and there. There's nothing we can do about it. We have to regroup and forget these games."

Only two teams have overcome a three-games-to-none deficit in the Stanley Cup playoffs - the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who accomplished the feat against the Detroit Red Wings in the Finals, and the 1975 New York Islanders, who defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the quarterfinals.

After San Jose called a timeout in overtime, Norstrom wristed a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that appeared to deflect off defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and over Nabokov's shoulder for the game-winning tally.

"We were putting the pressure on, the puck popped out to me and I tried to get it on net as quickly as I could," Norstrom said. "It hit his stick and it ended up in the net. I'll take it off sticks, off feet, as long as it goes in. I've never had a bigger goal. It feels great."

For Norstrom, a 14-year veteran who only had reached the conference semifinals on one previous occasion, it was his second goal in five games after going the first 41 of his postseason career without one.

"We've got a lot of guys in here that are playing great, but there's one guy that's been there for us all year long," Turco said of Norstrom. "He's a man that's been vocal, that's played a lot of minutes, that's been asked to do a lot, without much fanfare. That's his game. He doesn't care, he wants this team to win, and he's the kind of guy you need this time of year to be on top of his game. It's great for him to see that one go in."

"They got a couple of good bounces on their goals, a couple off our sticks found the back of the net," Marleau said. "But we've got to get some more shots and get some of those bounces ourselves."

The goal gave the home team a victory for the first time in the series. It also put Dallas within one win of its first trip to the conference finals since 2000.

After failing to convert three first-period power plays, the Sharks opened the scoring during the Stars' first man-advantage opportunity. Marleau capitalized on Zubov's turnover and raced in on a breakaway, beating Turco to the glove side with just 35 seconds remaining in the first period to give San Jose the first goal in each of the three games of the series.

"That was a great play, Patty made a great play," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "Zubov made a blind play, and then Patty jumped all over it and buried it. That was a great play because he was tired and still found a way to score."

Zubov made amends 47 seconds into the third period, ripping a slap shot that deflected off blue-liner Craig Rivet and past Nabokov just 12 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play.

"We took a bad penalty at the end of the second period and then we put a gun to our head with that 5-on-3 opportunity, and they converted," Wilson said. "They got excited and we got back on our heels."

Niklas Hagman nearly gave the Stars the lead with 9:10 remaining in regulation, when he was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down from behind on a breakaway by defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. Hagman made a move to his backhand, but Nabokov got enough of the shot with his arm to send it wide of the net.

"I wanted to come with a little speed, maybe a little fake and try to move it quickly to backhand, try to get it up," Hagman said. "But when I moved it to my backhand, it bounced a little bit and I couldn't shoot it right away."

Nabokov was outstanding in goal as, for a while, it appeared as if he might steal a win the way Turco did in Game One.

"We found ways to win," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I thought this was our best game of the series and we really pushed the play. I also thought this was Nabokov's best game."

Dallas' Joel Lundqvist hit the crossbar with a wrist shot from the doorstep in the first period, but the Stars were unable to get another shot past Nabokov until Zubov's goal in the third.