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Barnes' tally extends Blackhawks' skid to seven

Jan 10, 2008 - 6:04 AM By Rory Spears PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Dallas Stars began their five-game road trip the right way.

Stu Barnes snapped a tie late in the third period with a shorthanded goal and Mike Modano collected three assists as the Stars skated to a 3-1 triumph Wednesday over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Loui Eriksson and captain Brenden Morrow also tallied and Marty Turco made 17 saves for Dallas, which defeated Chicago for the first time in three tries this season.

"This is a good start to our road trip," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Chicago played last night, so we wanted to take advantage of the schedule and play a solid road game that would make things tough on them."

With the game even and Morrow serving a hooking penalty, Barnes fired a one-timer from the right point that glanced off the stick of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and into the net at 13:56, giving the Stars a 2-1 edge.

"I'm just trying to get something on the net," Barnes explained. "Mo (Modano) make a great play getting the puck to me. I got a great bounce on the shot and it went in."

Morrow, who easily could have become the goat, sealed Dallas' second straight victory with an empty-netter in the final seconds.

After allowing a goal on the second shot he faced, Turco was perfect en route to improving to 13-2-1 lifetime against the Blackhawks. The veteran netminder was fortunate, however, as Chicago rookie Patrick Kane failed to convert a penalty-shot attempt in the second period.

With 8:13 remaining in the session, Kane was hooked from behind by defenseman Sergei Zubov while on a breakaway. Referee Dan O'Rourke awarded Kane a penalty shot, but the 19-year-old lifted a backhander wide of the net on the right side after making a number of stickhandling moves.

"I tried to take what the goalie was giving me," said Kane, the first overall pick in last June's draft. "I pulled the puck to my backhand and thought I had him. I just didn't put the shot where I wanted to."

"I'll take that one," said Turco, who sprawled on the ice to take away the shot. "I didn't look great on the play, but he tried to do the young, cocky kid thing and put it off the bar and in. Turned out to be a big moment in the game."

Chicago, which entered with a three-game home winning streak against Dallas, opened the scoring for the first time in five games at 6:09 of the first period.

With Modano in the penalty box for hooking, defenseman Duncan Keith unleashed a wrist shot from the right point that Lang deflected past Turco from in front for his 15th goal of the season.

"We got off to a good start, but they outplayed us in the end," Keith said. "It's a tough loss when it's a one-goal game with an empty-netter. Still, they deserved to win."

The Stars pulled even with a power-play tally of their own late in the session. After Martin Havlat and Rene Bourque failed to clear the puck from the defensive zone in attempting to make an odd-man rush, Niklas Hagman got it down low to Eriksson.

A native of Sweden, Eriksson skated to the net from below the right faceoff circle and jabbed the puck under Khabibulin with 93 seconds remaining, knotting the contest at 1-1.

Modano, who helped set up the goal, admitted his team was fortunate to get the equalizer.

"The end of our power play was kind of rough," he said. "Late in the period, the ice was rough and the puck was bouncing. I was lucky to get a stick on the puck before Havlat went the other way alone. The power play wasn't pretty, but we broke an 0-for-23 slump, so we were lucky."

Khabibulin made 25 saves for Chicago, which has lost seven in a row (0-5-2).

"We need to find a way to win, starting in our next game," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said. "Nobody is giving up."