Stars beat Sharks for 3-0 series lead

Mattias Norstrom’s goal 4:37 into overtime Tuesday night gave the Dallas Stars a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks and a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series at Dallas.

“I tried to get it on net, it went off a stick. Fortunately, it went in,” said Norstrom, sounding as shocked as anyone about his winning goal.

Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov had already made several impressive saves in overtime, but there were too many bodies around him and he never saw Norstrom’s shot from the top of the left circle after a pass from Mike Ribeiro.

The puck slipped through the traffic, clipping Jeremy Roenick’s stick along the way.

It was only the second goal in 47 career playoff games for Norstrom, a 14-season defenseman who has scored only 18 regular-season goals for three NHL teams.

“He just got it over me and it hit my stick,” Roenick said.

“It was another bad break. It’s amazing how we can’t get a bounce in this series.”

The last time the Stars had a 3-0 series lead was in the first round of the 1999 playoffs, when they swept Edmonton and went on to win the Stanley Cup.

This is their 16th postseason series since then.

Nabokov stopped 27 shots, including Niklas Hagman’s penalty shot with 9:10 left in regulation.

Detroit 4, Colorado 3 -- Pavel Datsyuk scored twice and Johan Franzen picked up his sixth goal of the series, giving the Red Wings a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Colorado has lost all seven times it played Detroit this season, including three shutouts in the regular season. To advance to the conference finals, they’ll have to become the first team in 33 years to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs.

Chris Osgood made 30 saves for Detroit.

Pittsburgh 5, New York Rangers 3 -- Evgeni Malkin scored two power-play goals and added an assist to lift the Penguins to a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Penguins are 7-0 in the postseason, still rolling after a four-game sweep of Ottawa in the first round.

New York outshot Pittsburgh, 39-17.