DALLAS — The Dallas Stars have finally made it back to the Western Conference finals. 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 Monday morning — the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history.
The Stars are going to the conference finals for the first time since 2000, when they returned to the Stanley Cup finals 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 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.
It was well after midnight before Morrow deflected in a pass by Stephane Robidas on a power play, ending the third-longest game 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 8 minutes left in the first overtime. The first shot rebounded off the upper body of the goalie, who later had a kick save when Joe Pavelski — who scored the Game 5 winner in overtime Friday night — shot.
San Jose played in overtime without Milan Michalek, who was face down on the ice when regulation ended after taking a hard hit from Morrow. Michalek, who scored the go-ahead goal in Game 4, had to be helped off the ice, and never returned to the bench. He was later shown on TV leaving the locker room with his left arm in a sling.
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