They are supposed to be the foundation of the Stars' new leadership and those two delivered big time in the series win over the San Jose Sharks, and they both delivered big time in Sunday night/Monday morning's four-overtime classic that propelled them to the Conference final for the first time in eight years.

Morrow scored his seventh goal and his second overtime winner of the series, a little justice for him after he had two goals waved off in Game 5.

"I was pretty ticked about Game Five," said Morrow. "But it was nice to get that one and close them out."

But he was a lot more than offense. He led in so many areas. His effort. His intensity. His relentlessness on every shift. His physical play. He had 19 hits in Game 6. He had the hit of the series when he nailed Milan Michalek at the end of the third period, ending the San Jose forward's night. He took a stick to the face at one point in the game. And a puck to the face at another point. But Morrow just kept pushing along and carrying his team with him. When he scored the game-winner, his coach said, it was a fitting end to the series.

"That's as fitting as anything I've seen in sports that Brenden Morrow got the winning goal," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "I've been around the game a long time, and it's been a long time since I've seen somebody have a series like that. That's just him putting the team on his back and carrying them."

"Brenden Morrow, what can you say. He's been the first star of this series," forward Steve Ott told FSN. "He's provided incredible leadership. He kept saying in the room to stick with it, stick with because we are going to get this one. We had the confidence in Marty Turco to back us and we finally got that one and everyone went nuts."

Turco held the fort the for just under 130 minutes, making 61 saves and many of them were spectacular. He was superb in the series and has been brilliant in both the first round series against Anaheim and this series against Anaheim.

"There aren't words to explain the way he played," said Ott. "He was phenomenal. I put my head down about ten times in all the overtime, saying 'Oh no,' and he comes up with a huge, huge save and kept us in there long enough for us to get that goal."

"He was just phenomenal," Stars center Mike Modano said of Turco. "He made some point blank saves and that's what we needed. We needed him to phenomenal tonight and win the game for us."

And Turco had to come up big, because the Sharks and goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who made 53 saves and had a spectacular glove save on Brad Richards early in the first overtime, were up to the task. The two teams went through several momentum shifts in a game that ended five hours and 14 minutes after it started.

The Sharks pushed hard in the third period after tying the game on a Ryane Clowe goal, matching the goal Antti Miettinen had scored in the second period to put the Stars ahead in the second period. The Stars pushed hard in the first overtime. The Sharks pushed back in the second overtime. And so it went.

But this one turned on special teams, where the Stars have had an advantage at times in their first two series. After swallowing their whistles during the third period and the first two overtimes, the referees finally gave a power play chance to the Sharks when Niklas Grossman was penalized for hooking Patrick Marleau. The Sharks did little with their chance.

When Brian Campbell tripped up Loui Eriksson in the fourth overtime, the Stars got their chance and cashed in.

"Well, it was tripping," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "It was a trip, we had to kill it off, and we didn't."

And that was the series for the Sharks, whose quest to rally from the 3-0 deficit came up two wins short.

"We have no reason to hang our heads in shame," said Sharks coach Ron Wilson. "We showed character. We kept coming. "

It was a tight series overall, with five of the six games decided by one goal and four of those being settled in overtime. It was close, but if often turned on little things and in four of the six games that battle went to the Stars. And thanks to Morrow's two OT goals and another by Mattias Norstrom, and the stellar netminding of Turco, the Stars are now moving on to a clash with the Detroit Red Wings.

And for the Stars, they avoided a seventh game in San Jose. A tough prospect, especially after holding a 3-0 series lead at one point.

"I didn't want to say it to the players, but with a seven-period game and jumping on that plane tomorrow, that would have been  no fun, no fun at all," Tippett said "I don't know if the players thought that way, but that would be a tough road to hoe, going there."

Said Ott: "It would have been awful to head back to San Jose. Game 7 in their rink would been awful."

But now they get some time to relish the win over San Jose, rest  and look forward to a Game 1 in Detroit.

"The exhilaration of that win and the fashion, it can only help the belief system that we have built and are growing," Turco said. "And we're going to need all that against Detroit, they're playing great, they've had a great season up until now. This team's going to be ready to go."

• Outside of several momentum shifts during the game and spectacular saves at both ends of the ice and close calls both ways, the game turned on special teams in overtime. The Sharks missed on a power play chance in the third overtime and the Stars cashed in on the chance they got in the fourth OT.