Henrik Sedin scored to end the sixth-longest game in NHL history, giving Vancouver a victory in their playoff opener early Thursday morning.

Sedin took a pass from his brother Daniel in the slot and fired the puck in the net at 18:06 of the fourth overtime period to give the Canucks a 5-4 victory over Dallas.

Vancouver's Henrik Sedin (centre) celebrates his winning goal in the fourth overtime period with brother Daniel, right, and Taylor Pyatt (left).
(Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

"I felt better the more we played," the goal scorer told Hockey Night in Canada. "It was nice in the fifth and sixth periods to feel you've got your legs."

The teams will return to GM Place for Game 2 of the Western Conference quarter-final on Friday (CBC, 9 p.m. ET).

Markus Naslund, Daniel Sedin and Mattias Ohlund each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, while Bryan Smolinski also scored. Five other Canucks notched assists.

Roberto Luongo made 72 saves in his first NHL playoff game.

At 78 minutes, six seconds, the overtime was the longest since Dallas went 80 minutes, 48 seconds in overtime before losing  4-3 to Anaheim on April 24, 2003. Many of the current Stars were in that game.

The longest overtime game in NHL history was played on March 24, 1936, when Detroit needed 116:30 of extra time to beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0.

"Everybody talked about how evenly matched these two teams were," said Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault. "And tonight was an indication of how we are evenly matched."

Brenden Morrow and Antti Miettinen each had a goal and assist for Dallas, while Trevor Daley and Ladislav Nagy also scored. The Stars rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period.

Marty Turco finished with 43 saves for Dallas.

The result continued some dispiriting trends for Turco and the Stars. The team lost three overtime games in their opening round defeat last year, while Turco now has an 0-5 record in playoff openers.

"We've got to have that same determination, same will [in Game 2] and we'll start turning this tide going our way," said Dallas coach Dave Tippett.

Teams score early

The Canucks opened the scoring just over four minutes into the game when Sedin's centring attempt went off the skate of rearguard Darryl Sydor and between Turco's pads.

The Stars responded just 68 seconds later on the power play, when Morrow deflected Mike Ribeiro's shot between Luongo's pads.

Both goaltenders settled down and the score remained 1-1 after 20 minutes despite multiple power-play opportunities for both clubs.

Defencemen for each club would exchange goals on screen shots in the first half of the second period.

Vancouver would capitalize with the man advantage just over six minutes in, moving the puck around the perimeter to Ohlund, whose blast beat Turco, with help from a Taylor Pyatt screen.

Daley replied at exactly the halfway mark of regulation. His wrist shot from the point eluded a blocked Luongo.

Vancouver went up 3-2 at the 13:47 mark when Naslund, fresh off the bench, pounced on a loose puck near the right faceoff circle in the Dallas end and snapped a shot that fooled Turco.

Canucks grab two-goal lead

Smolinski provided the game's first two-goal lead seven minutes into the third on the type of fluky play that has become all too common for the Stars in recent years in the playoffs.

A Canuck shot sprang off the glass behind the Dallas net and back into the goal crease and Smolinski put it in past an unaware Turco.

Dallas again fought back, though. Miettinen beat defenceman Willie Mitchell for the rebound from a Niklas Hagman shot and slid the puck past Luongo just 55 seconds after the Smolkinski goal.

"I thought at 4-2, we had the game in our hands, right there," Vigneault said. "A turnover at their blue-line permitted them to make it 4-3."

The Stars tied it when Nagy's innocent-looking wrister trickled between the Canuck netminder's pads at 13:46 of the third. Dallas outshot Vancouver 16-3 in the final period.

"We came out in the third period and played a heckuva third period, got us a chance to win the hockey game," said Tippett.

The Canucks had an ineffectual power play in the first overtime after Mattias Norstrom of Dallas took a slashing penalty.

In the second extra period, the Stars dominated for long stretches and outshot Vancouver, 12-3. Stu Barnes hit the crossbar in the final minute.

Turco was called upon often in the third overtime, and made a sensational blocker save on a Sami Salo point shot.

Daniel Sedin hit the post behind Turco seconds before brother Henrik finally ended the contest.

"It's really disappointing right now," said Turco. "We had a big chance to win a game tonight.

"It's frustrating but I'm sure we'll turn it into a positive, too. It's tough right now to think like that but we carried the play."

The Canucks played most of overtime without forwards Matt Cooke (groin injury) and Alex Burrows (upper body injury).

Forward Ryan Kesler saw his first action since Jan. 19. Kesler underwent hip surgery and missed 34 games during the season.

Vancouver defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick was inserted into the lineup to replace Brent Sopel, who suffered back spasms from a freak incident at his home on Tuesday.