Looking lackluster after two periods and down 1-0 after the first forty minutes, the Canucks took over the game in the third period.

"We had a great game from start to finish in Game 2 and tonight we tailed off a little and they took advantage of it," Stars forward Stu Barnes said.

The Canucks pushed hard in the third period in Game 2, but didn't create many great scoring chances. This time they got some chances and when Jan Bulis scored on the rebound of a Jannik Hansen shot early in the period, momentum shifted.

"They got the momentum and ran with it," said Stars coach Dave Tippett.

But only some stellar goaltending by Marty Turco kept the Canucks from winning the game in overtime. But unlike the regular season, getting into overtime doesn't get you a point in the playoffs. It's win or lose. And for the sixth straight time the Stars lost.

After Trevor Linden and Bryan Smolinski teamed up to win a puck battle along the boards, Smolinski go the puck to Taylor Pyatt, who beat Turco with a blast from the top of the left faceoff circle.

"It found its way over my pad on the short side, it seemed like it was coming a little tighter to me," Turco said. "I'll look at it later, but in the end, it's really meaningless now because it went in and the game's over."

It was another OT loss for Turco and another overtime in which none of his teammates could put the puck in the net down at the other end.

Even Stars coach Dave Tippett is aware of the trivia surrounding the Stars' overtime woes. He mentioned that Steve Ott was the last Dallas player to score an overtime goal. That was more than three years ago. There have been six overtime games since and no one has been able to score in 130:51 of overtime action.

"We have a lot of players who get a lot of opportunities to make a difference in the game. We need some of those players to start doing that," Tippett said. "You got to find a way to win. It just seems like we haven't found a way to get on top of it when it counts."

Stars captain Brenden Morrow said the team has to find a way to get pucks past the goalie in those situations.

"Our MO is to defend, but we've got to find ways to win hockey games too," Morrow said. "We can defend and play good defense, but we've got to find ways to start getting pucks past this guy. Marty played a solid game for us again and gave us a chance to win and we just didn't find that goal to put us over the top."

So far in this series the Stars top guns have been relatively quiet when it comes to offense. Among them is Mike Modano, who said it's tough going out there.

"They are keying in on us and taking away our time and space just like we are with their main guys," Modano said.

But the Stars are going to have to find some answers by Tuesday. The Canucks are back in control of the series again. After looking as if they might be in a little trouble after losing Game 2, the Canucks showed why they were a top team in the league over the second half of the season. They've put the pressure on the Stars, who will have to three of four games to take the series and one of those wins will have to come in Vancouver.

"We can't worry about game 5, 6 or 7 until we take care of Game 4," said Barnes. "We've go to stay focused. Take the positives, learn from our mistakes and be better in Game 4."

The Bulis-Morrison-Hansen trio produced the game-tying goal early in the third period.

"They played well," Vigneault said. "Those three guys have pretty good wheels and good speed and good skill. I thought they generated some good chances in the third. They got us the tying goal, which was big. We hadn't scored in five periods."

The Linden-Smolinski-Pyatt trio combined for the game-winning goal in overtime. When asked if he would be keeping those new lines intact for Tuesday, Vigneault wasn't ready to say.

"I will decide that tomorrow," he said laughing.