NHL Playoffs: Dallas to San Jose, "Smile You Son of A..."

Leaving San Jose down 2-0 wasn't necessarily a bad omen for the San Jose Sharks.  In fact, they didn't see it as a negative at all.

In the regular season, San Jose posted the number 1 road record in the league, going 27-10-4.  During that same time, San Jose posted 3 road wins against the Stars.

So nothing to be concerned about, right?

In the waning moments of the first period, Patrick Marleau beat Dallas goaltender, Marty Turco, shorthanded to give the Sharks the momentum entering the second.

The second period saw a very evenly matched period, where both teams were about equal on shots, no goals, and only one penalty handed out.

Then comes the third, a period that has seen Dallas at their best.

Going into game 3, Dallas had scored 17 of their 28 goals in the playoffs, in the third period of the game.  This includes 2 four goal performances, game 6 against Anaheim and game 2 against San Jose.

This third period would be another Dallas can be proud of.

Seconds into the third, almost a reflection of game 2, Sergei Zubov welcomes himself back home in front of the Dallas crowd, beating Evgeni Nabokov on the power play.

This goal killed any momentum the Sharks had, and Dallas's defense only allowed 4 shots in the entire third period.

So the Sharks and Stars are OT bound again.  And this OT was as identical to game one as you can get.

Back in game one, it was Brenden Morrow notching the game winner 4:39 into the extra frame.

Now take that scenario, subtract 2 seconds, and substitute Mattias Norstrom, and there you have it.

At 4:37 of the overtime period, Mattias Norstrom officially alerted the proverbial "Fat Lady" to begin her tuning process, as he takes a pass from Mike Ribeiro, and beats Nabokov to give the Stars a 3-0 lead.

Game 4 officially becomes "Do-or-Die" for San Jose.

San Jose must now undertake the task of winning four straight games against a team with a new outlook on their playoff lives, or accept the fact Brody has his M1 Garand ablaze at the tank sitting inside their "Jaws."

For Dallas, they know that every game from here on out, the pressure is squarely on San Jose.

SIDENOTE ALERT: Dallas also has history with both Colorado and Detroit when it comes to the Western Conference Championships.

The Stars haven't seen the light of the Conference Finals since the 1999-00 season, where they bounced Colorado, and eventually lost to New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Dallas's last loss in the Conference Finals was the 1997-98 season, to the Detroit Red Wings.

So if Dallas makes it out of Round 2, they'll be hoping for a repeat, or revenge.

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