(AP)
Monday, May 5, 2008

DALLAS—The Dallas Stars finally have made it back to the Western Conference final. It took the eighth longest game in NHL history to do it.
Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal 9:03 into the fourth overtime as the Stars eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early this morning—the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season and the longest in San Jose history.

The Stars are going to the conference final for the first time since 2000, when they returned to the Stanley Cup final the year after winning the franchise’s only championship.
They will face Detroit, which wrapped up its second-round sweep of Colorado on Thursday night.
After winning the first three games in the series, the Stars finally knocked out the Sharks on the third try and avoided having to go to San Jose for a deciding game.
The win came after having two apparent goals were disallowed following video reviews in Game 5, and Evgeni Nabokov’s sensational glove save early in the first overtime of Game 6—well before midnight.
Brian Campbell was called for tripping close to the Dallas net before Morrow scored the winner—deflecting in a pass from Stephane Robidas. It was the fourth overtime game in the series, and the fifth game decided by one goal.
Marty Turco had a franchise-record 61 saves for the Stars. Nabokov stopped 53 shots.
San Jose thought it had a game-winner midway through the third overtime, with Ryane Clowe poking a puck around Turco. Clowe and nearby teammates wearily lifted their arms, but the puck was under the goalie’s glove and not in the net.
The Sharks even had a power play in the third overtime when Nicklas Grossman was called for hooking, but couldn’t convert.
The game last five hours, 14 minutes—ending the third-longest in Stars’ history. They lost the other two.
Nabokov’s incredible glove save 1:31 into the first overtime kept the game going and prevented a series winner by Brad Richards.
Nabokov made a stab of Richards’ one-timer—grabbing the puck with his glove sweeping just inside the post and the puck above the goal-line. Referee Tim Peel was behind the net and quickly waved off the goal even though the red light lit up.
The play was reviewed by off-ice officials, who determined the puck didn’t completely cross the goal-line.
But Nabokov seemed confident, shaking his head as if to say “no goal” when he stood up after the whistle. And it wasn’t a goal—one of his 17 saves in the first extra period.
Mike Ribeiro had three chances to score in the final 75 seconds of the first overtime. He was rejected on a pair of bang-bang attempts, then with 47 seconds left had another shot that deflected off Nabokov and then the crossbar.
Turco was sprawling out of the crease when he stopped two shots by Sharks’ captain Patrick Marleau with just over eight minutes left in the first overtime.
The first shot rebounded off the upper body of the goalie, who later had a kick save against Game 5 overtime winner Joe Pavelski.
Pittsburgh edged the N.Y. Rangers 3-2 (OT) to take that series 4-1 and set up the Eastern Conference showdown with the Philadelphia Flyers, who knocked off Montreal in five games Saturday night.