DALLAS — After Dallas won the first three games against San Jose, advancing to the Western Conference finals was just a matter of time.

A lot of time, it turns out.

The Stars lost two games, then needed four overtimes to finally pull out Game 6 and the series. Brenden Morrow scored the final goal by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas on a power play 9:03 into the seventh period, giving Dallas a 2-1 victory early Monday morning.

The game lasted 129 minutes, 3 seconds, making it the eighth-longest in NHL history and the longest of this postseason. It also was the longest in Sharks history and the third-longest the Stars have ever played. In real time, it took 5 hours, 14 minutes, ending at 1:24 a.m.

"Robie made a good, heads-up play, faked the defender down and I was there for an easy one. I shouldn't miss that one," said Morrow, the Stars captain. "At that point of the game, you don't really know what you've got left."

The marathon was a fitting end to a razor-close series: Five games were decided by a single goal, four that needed overtime.

"This whole series was a coin flip," Sharks center Jeremy Roenick said.

Goalies Marty Turco of Dallas and Evgeni Nabokov of San Jose traded unbelievable saves throughout the extra periods. Nabokov somehow kept the puck in his glove exactly over the line — but not past it — in the first OT, then Turco did a barrell-roll to smother a puck inches from the line in the third OT, a play so close that several Sharks players raised their arms in triumph.

"It was 99 percent fun tonight," said Turco, who set a franchise record with 61 saves.

Nabokov stopped 53 shots, but not the one set up after Brian Campbell was called for tripping Loui Eriksson close to the Dallas net.

"From my point, he started flopping," Campbell said.

The Stars will have a few days to rest and recover before facing Detroit for a spot in the Stanley Cup finals. Dallas hasn't gotten this far since 2000, when it was the defending champs and on its way back to the Cup finals.

The first conference finals for Turco and coach Dave Tippett will begin Thursday night in Detroit. The Red Wings have been resting since sweeping Colorado on Thursday night.

The Stars expected to advance much more quickly after taking a 3-0 series lead. They were up 2-0 in Game 5, but two apparent goals by Morrow were disallowed by video reviews.

"Nobody gave us a chance against Anaheim and nobody gave us a chance against San Jose," Tippett said. "The guys in there just believe in each other."

For the Sharks, this was the third straight year they've been knocked out in Game 6 of the second round. This one might hurt more because of how successful the season was — a 20-game points streak, a division title and a Game 7 victory over Calgary in the first round, plus the gutty comeback in this series. There's no telling what would've happened had the physically drained Stars had to face the mental challenge of traveling to San Jose for a Game 7.