Luongo-led Canucks beat Dallas in overtime

So much for the redemption of Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco.

Coming off his first career playoff shutout, Turco was headed toward another until allowing a tying goal in the third period, then getting beat on a one-timer from the left circle by Taylor Pyatt 7:47 into overtime. That gave the Vancouver Canucks a 2-1 victory Sunday night at Dallas and a 2-1 lead in this first-round Western Conference series.

Pyatt’s goal off a pass from Bryan Smolinski ended this game much more quickly than the last time these teams played extra periods: a four-overtime contest in the opener. Vancouver won that one, too.

Game 4 is Tuesday night in Dallas.

Turco, hoping to shed his reputation as a playoff underachiever, fell to 1-9 in postseason OT games. This also was the fifth straight home playoff loss for him and the Stars, who’ve been bounced in the first round each of the last two seasons.

Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to Turco’s 35, but had the more spectacular stops, including a pair from his back early on.

The goalies have been the dominant story this series and this night was no exception. About the only change was that, in the first period, things went from tactical to testy for the first time. There was a big pileup with lots of pushing and shoving, sticks and gloves dropped and helmets knocked off. Two players from each side wound up in the penalty box following that skirmish.

However, it didn’t last. Both teams stuck to their formulas, making for tight but crisp action.

Turco has gone a long way toward shedding his reputation as a playoff underachiever. He had three scoreless overtime periods in the opener before allowing the winner in quadruple overtime, then came back with five straight scoreless periods. The defense in front of him was a big part, too, but Turco always was where he needed to be when he needed to be.

For the first time this series, the team that scored first lost.

Ducks 2, Wild 1: At St. Paul, Minn., Andy McDonald scored early, Rob Niedermayer scored late, and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 19 shots, leading Anaheim to a victory over Minnesota.

Anaheim leads the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal 3-0. Game 4 will be played here Tuesday night, giving the Wild one last chance to get their power play going.

Senators 4, Penguins 2: At Pittsburgh, Daniel Alfredsson scored twice during a second dominating Ottawa second period in as many days and the Senators made this lead stand, taking Pittsburgh’s stars and its crowd out of the game for a victory in Game 3 of their first-round series.

Ottawa, rebounding from a 4-3 loss at home barely 24 hours before in which it twice squandered third-period leads, takes a 2-1 lead into Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Red Wings 3, Flames 1: At Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom scored within the first 4 minutes and the Red Wings went on to beat Calgary, taking a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

Game 3 is Tuesday night at Calgary.