NHL PLAYOFFS Tuesday’s other game

Stars 2, Sharks 1 (OT)

DALLAS — Thanks to an unlikely goal from Mattias Norstrom, the Dallas Stars are one victory shy of the Western Conference finals. Norstrom scored from the top of the left circle 4:37 into overtime to give the Stars a commanding 3-0 lead over the San Jose Sharks in the best-of-seven series. Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov had already made several impressive saves in the overtime, denying Loui Ericksson twice in the first couple of minutes. The second shot by Ericksson came as he tried to knock in the rebound of Brad Richards’ shot that the goalie kicked away. But Nabokov had too many bodies around him and couldn’t see the shot by Norstrom, who scored his second goal in 49 playoff games. He took a pass from Mike Ribeiro and slapped it through the traffic and into the net. 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. Dallas can wrap up the series tonight at home.

Associated Press