Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Dallas Stars 2, San Jose Sharks 1 (OT)

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — The San Jose Sharks are on the ropes and Stars defenseman Mattias Norstrom delivered the big blow that put them there. Norstrom's goal 4:37 into overtime gave the Stars a 2-1 win at the American Airlines Center Tuesday night and a commanding 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals series.

Norstrom's shot from near the left circle hit the stick of a diving Sharks forward Jeremy Roenick and went up and over San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who had made two big saves on Stars forward Loui Eriksson earlier in the overtime.

"It's one of those situations that we had the puck for a while and I was just trying to get the puck to the net as soon as I could," said Norstrom. "It went off a stick."

Said Roenick: "It was another bad break. It's amazing how we can't get a bounce in this series."

The Stars, who improved to 7-2 in the postseason, will have a chance to finish off the Sharks Wednesday night, when the teams play Game 4 at the AAC.

"Game 3 is pivotal and it gives us a lot of momentum and excitement," said Stars forward Mike Modano. "We want to get right back at them and we'll see what happens tomorrow."

Said Stars captain Brenden Morrow: "We'll take it. 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."

The Sharks, who were considered top Stanley Cup contenders, are now on the brink of elimination and are facing their third straight second round exit in the playoffs.

"I think we don't want to dwell on this too long," said Sharks captain Patrick Marleau, who scored his team's lone goal. "We want to keep going and keep our spirits up and just keep winning our next game."

The Stars again trailed going into the third period, but were able to tie the game early in the period on a five-on-three power play goal by Sergei Zubov. The Stars have outscored their opponents 17-5 in third periods during the playoffs. They are now 3-2 when trailing after two periods in the postseason.

The Sharks got a stellar performance from Nabokov, who stopped 27 of 29 shots, but the Sharks were able to only get one puck by Stars goalie Marty Turco, who stopped 19 of 20 shots including a key save on Sharks forward Milan Michalek about a minute-and-a-half before Norstrom scored.

"We are going to need to try and limit them tomorrow like we did tonight," said Turco. "You have to continue to make your own breaks and that's our mindset right now."

The first period was fast paced with a several good chances, but the Sharks couldn't take advantage of three power play chances. They did, however, cash in on the Stars' first chance with the power play.

When Zubov's drop pass at the blue line missed it's intended target, Sharks captain Patrick Marleau got the puck, broke in on Turco and put the puck in the top corner of the net with 35 seconds remaining in the first period.

After a scoreless fast paced second period, the Stars knotted the game 1-1 with a five-on-three power play just 47 seconds into the third period when Zubov beat Nabokov with a blast from just inside the blue line.

The Stars kept up the pressure third and had the Sharks on their heels for the rest of the period, but couldn't get the go ahead goal. Their best chance came on a penalty shot by Niklas Hagman with 9:10 remaining, but Nabokov stopped Hagman's back hand attempt.

Nabokov came up with a sharp save by Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen late in the game to help send it to overtime.

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Comments

xdavidwattsx Anonymous

No doubt. I have been a STH since the lockout but I fully welcome everyone on the bandwagon.

5 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )