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Ribeiro, Morrow guide Stars over Coyotes

Oct 28, 2007 - 6:27 AM By Bob Huhn PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Coming off one of their worst offense performances of the season, the Dallas Stars found their scoring touch in the desert.

Mike Ribeiro had a goal and two assists and captain Brenden Morrow set up three tallies as the Stars recorded a 5-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday.

Mike Smith stopped 28 shots and Mike Modano netted a tally and set up another for Dallas, which has won nine of its last 10 overall meetings with Phoenix and eight if its last nine visits. The Stars, who have not lost in Phoenix since February 14, 2004, went 2-for-5 on the power play while keeping the Coyotes scoreless on four opportunities.

"Our specialty teams were key tonight," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "Our players that we depend on to score all chipped in tonight. It was a much-needed two points. We wanted to carry a game right through, and tonight I thought we did a lot of smart things."

Dallas, which went 0-for-4 on the power play in losing a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, got a break and took a lead nearly four minutes into this one. Defenseman Sergei Zubov unleashed a wrist shot from the right point that bounced off the stick of Coyotes blue-liner Matt Jones and past goaltender Alex Auld at 3:49 for a 1-0 edge.

Phoenix knotted the contest at 12:20, when captain Shane Doan deflected a rising wrist shot from the left point by defenseman Ed Jovanovski past Smith. It was Doan's first goal of the season and the 200th of his career.

"It would've been nicer if it helped us win," Doan said. "We thought we had some momentum after the last game, and we're disappointed we didn't find a way to win this one."

The Stars regained the lead for good late in the first as Jere Lehtinen buried a loose puck in the low slot after Auld made a big save on Morrow, who was alone on the doorstep. With the tally, Lehtinen extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.

Modano extended the advantage eight minutes into the second period, when he received a pass from behind the net by Lehtinen and beat Auld from the slot during a man advantage.

Radim Vrbata drew Phoenix within 3-2 with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the session, but Niklas Hagman lifted a backhander over Smith on a shorthanded breakaway with 65 seconds left to restore Dallas' two-goal cushion.

"That was definitely a momentum-killer," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We had it (at) 3-2, and that was huge. There is no question that changed the way it went, but penalties hurt us, too. We worked hard getting the discipline in place, and it seems like the last two nights, we haven't been very smart about it."

Ribeiro added an insurance tally at 7:22 of the third, converting a cross-crease pass by Morrow from the right corner. Modano also picked up an assist on the tally, giving him 1,230 career points - three shy of passing Phil Housley for the all-time lead among American-born players.

The two-point performance by Modano doubled his season total, something he is not pleased about.

"There has been a stretch that I really haven't felt good about it, personally, so I just wanted to take little steps and build it and go," Modano said. "It's nothing that you haven't been part of before you go through stretches that you don't feel the puck is going right.

"You want to contribute, and over a course of time, you start doubting your ability and wonder what you can do. So it was good to get some decent looks and it was nice to finally finish it off."

Despite improving to 2-3-1 on the road, Dallas has been outscored, 18-14, away from home this season.

"After losing against LA (on Thursday), we knew we had to be ready for this game (after) not playing our best hockey on the road," Ribeiro said. "We had some trouble lately on specialty teams, and tonight we did well. Special teams did the job today."

Coming off a 1-0 shutout over Anaheim on Thursday, Auld made 20 saves for Phoenix, which has lost six of its last eight games.