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. 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. Penguins 3, Rangers 2, OT: At Pittsburgh, Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime and Pittsburgh rallied after giving up a two-goal lead to beat New York and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in seven years. Sidney Crosby began a rush from the Penguins' end with a pass to Pascal Dupuis, who attempted to give it back to Crosby. The puck trickled away but ended up on Hossa's stick, and he beat Henrik Lundqvist from the slot for his fifth of the playoffs. The Penguins won the series 4-1. The Penguins will meet the cross-state Philadelphia Flyers, the conference's worst team last season, in the first all-Pennsylvania conference final. The teams haven't met in the postseason since the Flyers' six-game victory in a 2000 second-round series. Jaromir Jagr, the leading scorer in the playoffs with 15 points, didn't get a goal in perhaps his last game for New York, though he told NBC that he wants to play for another four seasons and would like to stay with the Rangers. Kessel hits three in US win In Halifax, Phil Kessel had a hat trick and the United States scored three power-play goals to take a 5-1 win over Slovenia in the preliminary round of the world championships Sunday. The Boston Bruins forward scored twice with the man advantage in the second, then added his third of the game on an even-strength tally 9 minutes into the third. David Booth and Calder Trophy nominee Patrick Kane also scored for the United States. Anze Kopitar scored for Slovenia with 3:24 left in the second period on Sunday. On Friday, the US went 4-for-9 on the power play in a 4-0 win against Latvia. The United States next meets rival Canada on Tuesday. Both teams are 2-0, and the winner will get the top spot for Group B. Dany Heatley had a goal and three assists to lead Canada to a 7-0 win over Latvia earlier Sunday. In a Group D game at Quebec City, Alexei Morozov scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime, to send Russia past the Czech Republic 5-4 in overtime. In the other Group D game, Denmark defeated Italy 6-2. The tournament is being played in Canada for the first time.
