Scoring: 1. San Jose, Marleau 3 (unassisted) 19:25 (sh).

Penalties: Lehtinen, Dal. (high sticking) 3:20; Robidas, Dal. (tripping) 7:25; Ott, Dal. (roughing) 16:19; Michalek, S.J. (roughing) 16:19; Daley, Dal. (roughing) 16:19; Thornton, S.J. (cross checking) 18:41.

Replay: The Stars waited more than 18 minutes for their first power play and promptly gave the Sharks a great chance. Sergei Zubov misfired on a drop pass intended for Jere Lehtinen at the blue line. San Jose's Patrick Marleau claimed the loose puck and beat Marty Turco over the glove hand on the short-handed breakaway.

Time to kill: The Sharks' power play continues to struggle. The Stars killed off three power plays in the first period and 11 of 12 in the series.

Not in the box score: Don't let the 12 shots fool you. The tempo was fast and occasionally frenzied. The Stars' Joel Lundqvist hit the crossbar on a pretty feed from Brad Richards. After Marty Turco turned away San Jose's Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau found the net on the rebound only to see the goal disallowed because the play had been blown dead.

San Jose: 6 shots, 1 goal

Dallas: 6 shots; 0 goals

Scoring: None.

Penalties: Semenov, S.J. (hooking) 19:06.

Replay: No scoring

Still flying: Amazingly, the high tempo continued, with the teams going several minutes between stoppages.

Not in the box score: The Sharks continued to find ways to counter Marty Turco's ability to play the puck. They used well-placed soft puck dumps into the Stars' zone away from Turco. That has also helped the Sharks to get a hard forecheck on the Stars defense.

San Jose: 7 shots, 0 goals

Dallas: 9 shots, 0 goals

Scoring: 2. Dallas, Zubov 1 (Ribeiro, Richards) 0:47.

Penalties: Ehrhoff, S.J. (hooking) 0:35.

Replay: The Stars immediately capitalized on a two-man advantage after hooking penalties to San Jose's Alexei Semenov and Christian Ehrhoff. Sergei Zubov's one-timer from the point, from Mike Ribeiro, tied the score.

Counterattack: While the Stars had just nine shots, they seemed to spend 90 percent of the period in the Sharks' zone. Among the players who came up big was left wing Loui Eriksson, who won numerous puck battles. The Sharks had four giveaways in the period.

Not in the box score: Never underestimate the importance of partially obscuring a goaltender's vision. Brenden Morrow set an effective screen on Evgeni Nabokov on Sergei Zubov's goal.

San Jose: 4 shots, 0 goals

Dallas: 9 shots, 1 goal

Scoring: 3. Norstrom 2 (Ribeiro, Niskanen) 4:37.

Penalties: none.

Replay: Defenseman Mattias Norstrom delivered the winner when his shot from the point deflected off the leg of San Jose's Jeremy Roenick, who charged Norstrom in an attempt to block it. The puck changed direction and sailed high into the net.

No go for Joe: In the Sharks' best scoring chance, Stars' goaltender Marty Turco covered his puck and turned away San Jose's Joe Thornton in close.

San Jose: 3 shots, 0 goals

Dallas: 5 shots, 1 goal

What happened: The matchup didn't really materialize as the Stars put the pair of Stephane Robidas and Nicklas Grossman out against Setoguchi, who struggled to create much offensively. Norstrom was a strong defensive force and spent most of the evening out against Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo.

The edge: Both players worked hard and were efficient, but when Norstrom tossed in the game-winning goal from the left point, he became one of the most important players on the ice.

Mike Heika

Selected by Staff Writer Mike Heika:

1. Brenden Morrow, Stars: The captain was all over the ice, and played a role in both goals.

2. Sergei Zubov, Stars: Overcame early miscue and played most minutes of any Stars player.

3. Mattias Norstrom, Stars: Huge game-winner on second career playoff goal.

2: Goals and five points in nine playoff games for defenseman Mattias Norstrom. Before this season, he had no goals and two assists in 38 playoff games.

11: Hits from Stars captain Brenden Morrow, who also contributed two blocked shots.

18: Third-period goals for the Stars to five for their opponents in the postseason.

Chuck Carlton