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Morrow, Turco extend quarterfinals for Stars

Apr 20, 2007 - 7:08 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Perseverance finally paid off for captain Brenden Morrow and the Dallas Stars.

Morrow scored a power-play goal 6:22 into overtime, giving the Stars a 1-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Game Five of their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Marty Turco made 21 saves for his second shutout of the series for Dallas, which staved off elimination and forced a sixth game at home on Saturday.

"It's a long trip, but we won both games there (so far)," Canucks captain Markus Naslund said. "We've just got to play the same way and hopefully get a win down there."

"It's been a great, tight series," Turco said. "We've had our backs to the wall since Game Two, but this team still doesn't doubt themselves and we know we can do it. Game Six is going to be an even harder battle and test for this team."

Despite entering with a three-games-to-one deficit, the Stars have been extremely competitive in the series, with each of their three losses being one-goal decisions - including two in overtime. Game One, which saw Vancouver post a 5-4 victory in four overtimes, was the sixth-longest game in Stanley Cup Playoff history.

"(Game Five) was very similar to the games we've played with these guys throughout the series," Canucks veteran Trevor Linden said. "That's how the games have gone. They've been very close, and I'm sure Saturday night will be close as well."

Dallas has faced a 3-1 deficit in a series 12 previous times but have yet to force a Game Seven.

With their postseason lives on the line, the Stars continued to stand toe-to-toe with the Canucks, with Turco and counterpart Roberto Luongo engaged in another superb goaltending duel. But a potential breakaway for Dallas in the extra session led to an intentional penalty for having too many men on the ice for Vancouver, setting the stage for the winning goal.

"The power play didn't have a whole lot going in regular time," Morrow said. "But in overtime, we found a break."

With Taylor Pyatt serving the infraction for the Canucks, Mike Ribeiro got the puck to defenseman Sergei Zubov, who unleashed a low wrist shot from the blue line. Standing on the doorstep, Morrow deflected the puck over the right pad of Luongo and into the net, ending another classic one-goal contest in the series.

"When (Zubov) has the puck, you always have to be ready because he'll find the open guy," Morrow said. "I tried to stay short side and give him an angle, and he had a good, hard pass right along the ice and I got a little stick on it."

"I don't know, it just went in," Luongo said. "What do you want me to tell you?"

No Star was more happy to see Morrow net the goal than Turco.

"I needed a hero out there tonight, and who better than No. 10 to get that one," Turco said. "It wasn't pretty, but it counts nonetheless."

With the assist, Zubov tied Neal Broten for second on the franchise postseason list with 51.

Turco, who posted his first career playoff shutout in Game Two, also was impenetrable in this one. The All-Star netminder, who turned aside 10 shots in the first period, three in the second, seven in the third and one in overtime, has allowed just nine goals on 178 shots over the first five games of the matchup.

"If you like goaltenders, watch this series," Dallas defenseman Philippe Boucher said. "They're incredible. Marty's been solid all year and he's been preparing for this. He's played, obviously, very well, and the same can be said about Luongo."

Luongo made 29 saves for the Canucks.

"It was a tight game, that's for sure," said Luongo, who's turned aside 181-of-190 shots in the series. "We had a few chances in the first (period), but other than that, I didn't think we had much. ... In a nice world, we would've won tonight, but we didn't, so we've just got to go back (to Dallas) and do it, that's all."

"I thought both goalies were excellent," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "That's just what's been happening in this series. It's 9-9 (in goals), and that just goes to show how even the teams are and how well the goaltenders are playing."

Moments before the goal, the Stars had a chance at a breakaway, but Ribeiro was unable to haul in a long pass from near Dallas' blue line. Anticipating the play, Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo jumped off his bench to break it up, drawing the crucial penalty.

"Sami left the bench, and I think he did the right thing," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "Our penalty-killing has been solid."

Dallas nearly fell behind early in the third by putting the puck into its own net. After Turco skated to the bench for an extra attacker during a delayed penalty call, rookie Loui Eriksson made a pass in the offensive zone that was out of the reach of Mike Modano.

The puck caromed off the left wing boards and down the ice, heading toward the empty net. But it hit the outside of the left goalpost and caromed wide, allowing the Stars to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

"It looked center cut to me," Turco said. "Sitting on the bench, I wanted to go grab it, but that's not a good thing to do, that'd be an automatic (penalty). You've just got to close your eyes and pray. ... It stayed out, and right from then, that whole possibility of tonight being our night, it was."

"(It) was not what I wanted to see, but somebody yelled on the bench, 'That's the break we need,'" Tippett added.