Jamie Thomas

Thanks to Dustin Byfuglien's overtime winning goal in Game 3, the Chicago Blackhawks are in complete control of the Western final and sit one step away from their first Stanley Cup final appearance since 1992.

It hasn't been as easy as the results have shown, so the Blackhawks to a man know they still have one big step left.

"You hear the old cliche the fourth one is the hardest to win and that's the truth," Blackhawks sniper Patrick Sharp said. "We look at the series against San Jose, each game could go either way and we are fortunate to be up 3-0."

"Heading into this series we would have looked at it that way," added Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith. "All the games have been close and we were able to get the two wins in San Jose."

The City of Chicago is buzzing so it will be difficult for the young Hawks to not look past Sunday's game to the Stanley Cup final.

"Its very hard not to and very tough not to get excited about having that chance," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews explained. "We still got a lot of work ahead of us and that's what we're going to do our best to focus on."

For the San Jose Sharks it must be frustrating knowing they have thrown everything at the Blackhawks, especially at Chicago rookie goaltender Anti Niemi, and have been unable to succeed. Yet here they sit three games down and have the monumental task of climbing back into this series.

"You wanna play well and we've been giving ourselves an opportunity to win," Sharks forward Patrick Marleau said. "But at least we're in there and we're getting chances."

Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov who has been outplayed by Niemi in this series is baffled about how things have transpired.

"I think now the answer is we have done a lot of good things but unfortunately its just not good enough right now," Nabokov said. "So we just have to find a way to win."

"We talk about it all the time that playoffs is kind of like ground hog day," Manny Maholtra added. "Whether you win or lose last game, your mentality is you want to win the next one."

Key stat: The Sharks plan of firing as many shots on goal as possible hasn't exactly worked in their favour during the 2010 playoffs. Their record is a mediocre 3-3 in any game that they have had 40 or more shots.