It took 129 minutes and three seconds, but the Dallas Stars are going to the Western Conference final.

Once again, the San Jose Sharks are going home early.

Brenden Morrow’s goal -- his seventh of the playoffs -- at 9:03 of quadruple overtime concluded yet another disappointing season for the Sharks, who were the best team in the League the last month of the season following the acquisition of defenseman Brian Campbell from the Buffalo Sabres.

“You can’t describe it,” Morrow said after scoring his second overtime winner of the series. “The reward we get for these fans, it’s a heck of a series. They put up a heck of a fight and it’s nice to get it over with.”

The Stars will meet the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference final, which is slated to begin Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena. The Wings, who won the Presidents’ Trophy with 115 points, swept the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2. It’s the first time Dallas has reached the Stanley Cup semifinals since 2000.

While Morrow was a hero, Marty Turco was THE hero. The Stars’ netminder made 61 saves in the victory, many of the acrobatic variety.

"That was as fitting as anything I've every seen in sports, that Brenden Morrow got the game-winner," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "It's been a long time since I've seen somebody have a series like that. That's him taking the team on his back and carrying us. Turco was great, too."

Granted, San Jose deserved a better fate Sunday. The Sharks fired 62 shots on goal on the night, only to be denied time and time again by Turco in a game that managed to last longer (5 hours, 14 minutes) than one of Paula Abdul’s critiques.

In the end, though, San Jose did lose the first three games of this series and waited far too long to play the way it’s capable of playing. Just like they did against the Calgary Flames in the opening round, it seemed the Sharks needed their backs to be against the wall before putting their best foot forward.

Eye-opening stat of the night: Joe Thornton had just three shots on goal in 47:14 of ice time for San Jose. On the other side of the ice, Stars’ forward Brad Richards had nine in 44 minutes.

Still, Sharks coach Ron Wilson was proud of the effort his team put forth, especially after losing Milan Michalek to a thunderous hit from Morrow at the end of regulation.

"We have nothing to hang our heads in shame about,” Wilson said. “We showed character and kept going. We were down a player, played overtime without him -- a full game with a short bench. Our guys kept going and going and going. We had a ton of chances."


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