Blackhawks extend their NHL lead

Forward Dustin Byfuglien scored with 7:36 left in overtime to lift Chicago to a 3-2 win over San Jose and put the Blackhawks within one win of reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 18 years.

Byfuglien scored his seventh goal of the playoffs as Chicago seized a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven semi-final series.

The Blackhawks can complete the sweep with a win Sunday at home.

"This is a huge win for us," said Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. "There is a big difference being up 3-0 to being up 2-1. We know that we can't get comfortable."

Byfuglien took a feed from forward Dave Bolland and beat Russian goalie Evgeni Nabokov with a high shot from the slot.

"It was tough giving up that late goal and then going into overtime. In the locker room we knew we had to regroup. Someone was going to be hero and it had to be Buf again," Toews said.

Bolland also scored on a breakaway to put Chicago ahead 2-1 in the third period in front of a crowd of 22,311.

Sharks Patrick Marleau replied with a goal with 4:23 left in regulation to force the overtime.

Marleau, who has four goals in two games, also scored on the powerplay in the second period.

Finland's Antti Niemi had 44 saves in goal for Chicago while Nabokov finished with 35 saves, including one off Chicago star Patrick Kane from in close in the beginning of the overtime.

Bolland's goal came after he picked up a loose puck thanks to a blocked shot at his own blueline by Toews.

Toews also had an assist on a powerplay goal by Patrick Sharp.

Toews' two assists gave him a point in 12 consecutive post-season games, setting a franchise record he had shared with hall of fame centre Stan Mikita, who had an 11-game streak in 1962. Toews has 25 points in this year's playoffs.

"We have to just treat every game like a game seven just like we did tonight," Toews said. "It has been a tough three games and we have worked really hard to get to this point so we are not going to waste the opportunity."

The Sharks now have to dig themselves out of a big hole if they are to match what the Philadelphia Flyers did by rallying from a 0-3 series deficit in the quarter-finals to oust Boston.