Dallas, TX (My Sportsbook) - Milan Michalek scored the game-winning goal 3:26 into the third period, as the San Jose Sharks avoided elimination with a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series from the American Airlines Center.

Patrick Marleau also tallied for the second-seeded Sharks, who have only been swept once in their playoff history as Detroit accomplished the feat in the 1995 semifinals. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 17-of-18 shots to pick up the win.

Jere Lehtinen scored an unassisted goal for the fifth-seeded Stars, who hold a 3-1 lead in the series. Marty Turco allowed two goals on 24 shots in defeat.

"Our discipline was one of our keys to success and we lost it tonight," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. "We put together some good shifts but its tough to gain momentum when you are killing penalties that often. They (Sharks) did a good job creating turnovers and the shorthanded goals are tough. That's something we need to clean up. We knew they weren't going to quit on us and we need to go in and focus on the next game."

Game 5 of this set will be held Friday evening in San Jose.

With the clubs locked at one early in the third period, Dallas' Mike Modano drew a delay of game penalty after he lifted the puck over the glass and San Jose took full advantage on the power play.

Joe Thornton threaded a pass from the right dot into the crease for Michalek, who tipped it in to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

San Jose survived a final minute surge by the Stars with an extra attacker to take the series back to California.

"We had nothing to lose," San Jose Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "So we went out there and had fun. We'll embrace the challenge to make history in coming back from a 3-0 deficit. We've been sitting back too much and not playing Sharks hockey. That was a pretty solid effort. It was an impressive effort. Our special teams were impressive obviously -- we scored a power-play goal and got another shorthanded."

After a scoreless first period, the clubs exchanged goals in the middle stanza.

A ghastly turnover by San Jose's Devin Setoguchi from behind his own net found the stick of Lehtinen in the slot and he ripped the puck high over the glove of a stunned Nabokov at the 5:25 mark.

Marleau countered with his second short-handed tally in as many games to put San Jose back on even terms. The Sharks captain picked off Sergei Zubov's pass at the blue line and skated in alone on Turco. As he approached the middle of the right circle, Marleau snapped a wrister that beat the Dallas netminder stick-side at 9:19.

Game Notes

Dallas opened the scoring for the first time in the series...The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders are the only NHL teams ever to win a playoff series after dropping the first three games...Center Stu Barnes sat out for Dallas, a day after he took a hard hit to the head in Game 3...San Jose finished 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Stars went 0-for-3.