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Stars aim for sweep of Sharks in Dallas

Wed 30th, April 2008

(Sports Network) - The Dallas Stars will try to complete a surprising sweep of the second-seeded San Jose Sharks tonight, when they host Game 4 of the best- of-seven Western Conference semifinals at American Airlines Center.

The fifth-seeded Stars finished in third place in the Pacific -- 11 points behind the division champion Sharks and five in back of second-place Anaheim. Dallas disposed of the Ducks in six games during the opening round and are now just one win away from ousting San Jose.

Dallas is trying for the third sweep of a seven-game series in franchise history. The Stars' last sweep came in 1999, when Dallas defeated Edmonton in four games during the opening round en route to the franchise's only Stanley Cup championship.

After winning Games 1 and 2 on the road, the Stars returned to Texas for a thrilling win in the third test on Tuesday. Mattias Norstrom's goal 4:37 into overtime gave Dallas a 2-1 win over San Jose and pushed the series lead to three games to none.

Sergei Zubov tied the game in the third period while Mike Ribeiro set up both goals for the Stars. Marty Turco made 19 saves and improved to 7-2 with a 1.86 goals against average and .921 save percentage in this year's playoffs.

In the extra session, Ribeiro had the puck deep along the left side and fed a pass that hit off a stick in front. However, the puck squirted out to the left point and Norstrom blasted the puck, which deflected off of a Shark and went into the net for the win.

Norstrom, a 36-year-old defenseman, has two goals and three assists in nine games this postseason after posting just two goals and 11 helpers in 66 regular-season games. The Swedish blueliner had never recorded more than two points in any single postseason before this year's playoffs.

Patrick Marleau scored the lone goal, while Evgeni Nabokov stopped 27 shots for San Jose.

The Sharks have averaged nearly 105 points during the last three regular seasons and notched a franchise-record 108 points this year. However, that success has not translated to the playoffs recently, as San Jose seems to be headed for its third consecutive second-round exit since reaching the conference finals in 2004.

This year was supposed to be different, as the Sharks were the NHL's hottest team in the second half of the season, posting an 18-0-2 stretch at one point. However, the Sharks, who went seven games with seventh-seeded Calgary in the first round, have yet to show that dominant regular-season form in this postseason.

Dallas was 23-16-2 as the hosts this year, while the Sharks were the NHL's best road team during the regular season, going 27-10-4 as the visitor. San Jose was 3-1 at Dallas this season.

If necessary, Game 5 of this set will be held Friday evening in San Jose.

Only two teams in NHL history have come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series and the last time it happened was in 1975 when the New York Islanders pulled it off in the quarterfinals against Pittsburgh. Toronto also did it against Detroit in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals.

The Sharks have never won a series when falling behind two games to none.

The Stars last lost a series when holding a 2-0 lead in 1992, when they fell in six games to Detroit in the opening round. That was also the last playoff series for the Minnesota North Stars, who relocated to Dallas for the 1993-94 campaign.

The regular-season series between Dallas and San Jose was extremely close with each team winning four games. Dallas has won both of its playoff meetings with the Sharks, with the most recent victory coming in five games during the 2000 conference semifinals.

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