With a little more than three minutes left to play in the first, the Red Wings were dominating the Sharks zone once again. A great move by Todd Bertuzzi found him all alone with the puck. He jetted behind the net and tried a wrap around move on Nabokov but Nabby was able to get his stick down, yet he could not freeze the puck. In a desperate effort, as the Wings crashed the net, Logan couture tried to push the puck under Nabokov but the referee ruled that he had covered the puck with his hand, resulting in a penalty shot for Detroit. The Joe exploded as the fans cheered on Zetterberg, who was chosen to take the penalty shot. He had threatened to score all night and this was a prime opportunity to put the Sharks down 2-0 early in the game. He came in fast on his forehand and faked the shot, which froze Nabokov, and then he went back hand and tried to lift it passed Nabokov - but Nabby, who has one of the best glove hands, robbed Zetterberg and kept it a 1-0 game (play pictured above). But the Red Wings weren't done yet, at 18:37 Dan Cleary once again found himself all alone in the slot with the puck and buried it passed Nabokov: 2-0 Red Wings. The Sharks pushed back even though the period was almost over and they would play until the buzzer sounded. With Setoguchi, Pavelski, and Clowe out on the ice, they battled for an opportunity to cut the deficit in half. Clowe was able to win the battle on the boards and send the puck to Pavelski, who was behind the net. He quickly threw the puck up the slot, hoping to find a Sharks player - and he did. Setoguchi gathered the puck, turned towards the net, and beat Howard glove side with four seconds left in the first: 2-1 Red Wings.
The Sharks were able to make another great effort to score the game tying goal and force overtime when Pavelski was left all alone near the left faceoff circle. Boyle was able to make an amazing cross ice pass which was perfectly placed so Pavelski could take a quick shot. But Detroit Defensemen Brad Stuart sacrificed his body to block the wicked shot from Pavelski and keep the Red Wings lead intact. It was looking dire for the Sharks as only six minutes remained in the third and they had yet to tie the game up. Fighting hard for the puck, the Sharks gained the offensive zone and set up shop. With a great cycle from Vlasic and Mitchell, they were able to work the puck to Logan Couture who was situated on the goal line. In a play similar to Zetterberg's second period goal, Couture threw the puck at the net with the bad angle. This time though, there was no defensemen's stick to deflect it in. Instead, Howard was caught "cheating" as he was thinking that Couture was going to pass and had prepared himself to get across the goal crease quickly. This opened up the five-hole and Couture snapped the puck passed Howard and into the net, tying the game: 3-3 Sharks. The Sharks were awarded a late Power Play but the Red Wings were able to hang on as Howard stopped a great chance by Clowe who broke through the defense. Game 3 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals was going to sudden death overtime.
After a 20 minute rest, the Sharks and Red Wings were ready to duke it out to the bitter end as the next goal would win the game. The Sharks got their chance early when Pavelski's line got a few prime opportunities but the Red Wings returned the favor with scoring chances on their own. Then a horrible line change from the Sharks found all of the Red Wings players gaining the Sharks zone with only three Sharks back. A high and wide slap shot from Red Wing Williams missed the net and skimmed all the way around the boards until it found the stick of Joe Thornton who had just got on the ice and was behind the Red Wing defense. With Patty Marleau on his left wing, the Jumbo quickly skated up ice on a two-on-one breakaway. The other Red Wings weren't able to recover in time to back check the two Big 3 scorers and it was up to Howard and the Red Wing's best Defensemen, Brian Rafalski, to stop the rush. As Howard came out to challange Thornton, Jumbo made a hard pass to Patty who only had to tap the puck into the empty net (play pictured above). The Sharks had come back from a two goal deficit to win the game in OT: 4-3 Sharks.
The Sharks celebrated their comeback victory as a shocked Red Wings team and equally shocked Red Wings fans quickly exited the Joe. The Sharks now have a 3-0 stranglehold over Detroit and can eliminate them with one more win. While the Big Pavelski did not score (he did however have an assist on Setoguchi's goal) the Big 3 came up huge for the Sharks with Joe Thornton raking up a goal and assist and Patrick Marleau tapping in the game winning goal. Dany Heatley had an amazing game as well even though he did not find the scoreboard. Game 4 is on Thursday, May 6th in Detroit where the Red Wings will have to win three games in a row to force a Game 7 if they want to have any chance of winning this series. While it has been done before, San Jose is not about to let that happen and will be looking for the kill come Game 4.