San Jose Sharks star Joe Thornton was accidentally hit in the throat by goalie Evgeni Nabokov's stick during the pre-game skate. He survived unscathed, but 64:37 later, the Dallas Stars had a stranglehold on their NHL playoff series.

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Mattias Norstrom floated a wrist shot from the left point that beat Nabokov at 4:37 of overtime, lifting the Stars to a 2-1 win Tuesday night in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal at American Airlines Center in Dallas - giving the underdog Stars a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Stars will be looking to sweep the Sharks in Game 4 is tonight at Dallas.

"I was just trying to get the puck to the net as soon as I could," Norstrom told reporters of his second career playoff goal. "(Stars goalie) Marty (Turco) made a great save for us in overtime and kept us in it. I thought tonight was our best game of the series and tomorrow, we want to close this series out."

The goal was hardly a thing of beauty, which was of little concern to Turco.

"We could care less how (the goal) went it," Turco told reporters. "That's playoff hockey and when games are that tight, you feel very fortunate to score in overtime. It's all about moving ahead and getting that fourth win. It was great to see it go in, though. We are going to need to try and limit them (Wednesday) like we did tonight. You have to continue to make your own breaks and that's our mindset right now."

The Sharks, the second seed in the Western Conference and a fashionable pick to win their first Stanley Cup, face being eliminated in the conference semifinals for the third straight season.

"We found ways to win," Stars coach Dave Tippett told reporters. "We were opportunistic out there. I thought this was our best game and we really pushed the play. I also that this was Nabokov's best game."

The loss was disheartening for Sharks coach Ron Wilson.

"I thought for the first two periods, we played a perfect road game," Wilson told reporters.

"We had some good opportunities, and snuffed theirs out. We took a bad penalty at the end of the second period and then we put a gun to our head with that 5-on-3 opportunity and they converted. They got excited and we got back on our heels. We were running around a little bit and didn't show much poise until late in the third period."

The Sharks, who entered the game having won of four of their previous five games at Dallas, opened the scoring when captain Patrick Marleau scored a short-handed tally on a breakaway with 35 seconds left in the first period. Marleau picked up a blind drop pass by Stars defenceman Sergei Zubov at the Sharks' blue-line and beat Turco.

Marleau had what should have been an early first-period goal taken away thanks to a quick whistle by referee Don Van Massenhoven. Thornton broke in on Turco from the right faceoff circle, but Turco stacked his pads and made the stop, although the puck remained loose in the crease. Van Massenhoven, standing behind the Stars' net, whistled the played dead just as Marleau poked the puck past Turco.

Zubov made amends early in the third period, scoring a power-play goal during a 5-on-3 advantage in the frame's opening minute.

Nabokov made 27 saves - including a penalty shot by Niklas Hagman midway through the third period.

Hagman, taking advantage of defensive confusion by the Sharks, was set free at centre ice, but was hauled down on a breakaway by Christian Erhoff during a stretch of withering pressure by the Stars.

Turco, who has outplayed Nabokov - the NHL's top goalie in the regular season, with a league-leading 46 wins - in the first three games of the series, made 19 saves.