STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Cavallini Gives Stars Overtime Victory, 5-4

Paul Cavallini has turned into a scoring machine in the playoffs, and it’s no coincidence it’s coming against his former team.

“I could say this is my lucky day,” Cavallini said after his power-play goal at 8:34 of overtime gave the Dallas Stars a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues Friday night at St. Louis. “It’s great to come back here and do well.”

Cavallini, who played for the Blues from 1987-92, helped the Stars take a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round series with a 40-foot drive for his first goal of the playoffs.

“I just shot it on the net as hard as I could,” Cavallini said. “It’s like five years of frustration finally coming out.”

Cavallini added a second-period assist and has a goal and five assists in the series. He scored 44 points in the regular season.

The Stars, who won despite getting outshot, 48-31, go for the sweep in Game 4 Sunday in St. Louis. Only two teams in NHL history have come back from 3-0 deficits in the playoffs, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs against Detroit for the Stanley Cup and the 1975 New York Islanders against Pittsburgh.

The teams combined for three goals in the final 6:13 of regulation, and the Blues forced the extra period on Alexei Kasatonov’s second goal of the playoffs with 28 seconds to go. St. Louis had six attackers on the ice when Kasatonov intercepted a clearing pass and scored from the left circle.

Detroit 3, San Jose 2--Rookie Chris Osgood continued his mastery over the Sharks, stopping 22 of 24 shots at San Jose, as the Red Wings took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round Western Conference series.

Coming off a shutout in Game 2, Osgood wasn’t perfect this time, but he was close. Osgood, who stopped 22 shots in Game 2 and blanked the Sharks the only previous time he faced them, didn’t give up a goal until late in the second period, ending a streak of more than 157 scoreless minutes.

Darren McCarty, Dino Ciccarelli and Shawn Burr scored early goals for the Red Wings, who had their own problems against San Jose goalie Arturs Irbe, who turned back 27 of 30 shots.

Calgary 4, Vancouver 2--Theoren Fleury scored twice in a four-goal third period at Vancouver, as the Flames took a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series with the Canucks.

Wes Walz and Gary Roberts also scored for Calgary, which played the third period without centers Joe Nieuwendyk And Joel Otto, who suffered apparent knee injuries late in the second period.

Mike Vernon made 26 saves for the Flames, who regained home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series, which continues Sunday at Vancouver.