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Modano does the honors as Stars post third straight win

Nov 22, 2007 - 5:27 AM By Amit Kaluskar PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) - It was only fitting that Mike Modano led the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.

After being honored as the all-time American-born scoring leader, Modano scored one of two power-plays goal for the Stars in a span of less than a minute to help his team win its third straight game.

"It would have been tough (losing)," Modano said. "You want to leave the arena feeling good about the whole situation."

Before the game, the Stars had a 20-minute presentation to honor Modano for becoming the all-time American-born scoring leader on November 7, 2007. Phil Housley and Joe Mullen, the two men who held the record at separate times, were both present.

"They (Mullen & Housley) laid the foundation for what I want to be and how I play the game," Modano said.

Dallas trailed, 1-0, in the third but Modano, appropriately enough, tied the game with his 513th career goal when he fired a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle into the left corner of the net past Jean-Sebastien Giguere at 7:35.

"This was his night, that was a rocket. Giggy didn't have a chance," Ducks defenseman Mathieu Schneider said.

Sergei Zubov set up the goal with a cross-ice pass from the left faceoff circle to earn his 600th career assist.

"You can win a lot of games with that power play if you're working it well," Modano said. "The first one (goal) was a big one to get the momentum going."

Less than a minute later, Niklas Hagman scored the go-ahead tally at 8:16 when he put back a rebound into the left corner.

"I half-dove for it, I tried to back-hand it (the puck)," Giguere said. "We've got to forget this one and move on. It (stinks too lose) just a couple unlucky bounces."

The Ducks, who had their four-game winning streak snapped, opened the scoring in the first. Corey Perry scored on Anaheim's first shot, curling a shot inside the right post from the top of the left corner of the crease at 6:54.

"(I'm) not too happy with the way it ended, frustrating way to lose," Anaheim's Todd Bertuzzi said. "We have to go back home and start a new streak, a couple bad breaks with the puck."

Perry's goal was the only shot on goal for the Ducks during the first 15 minutes of the game.

Mike Smith, who began the season as the backup goaltender, stopped 16 shots for Dallas in place of Marty Turco, who allowed 14 goals in his last three starts.

"He (Smith) is competing well and making some big saves," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.

Giguere stopped 22 shots for Anaheim, which was 1-for-6 on the power play.

"You don't want to lose like this," Giguere said. "You want to keep the streak going, you need to move on and win some games."