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Neal's goal with 22.2 seconds left lifts Stars

Jan 23, 2010 - 6:02 AM EDMONTON, Alberta(AP) -- The Edmonton Oilers keep finding new and devastating ways to lose.

James Neal's goal with 22.2 seconds remaining helped the Dallas Stars snap a 10-game, road-losing streak and beat the struggling Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Friday night.

The Oilers have lost 10 straight and 17 of 18. It is their worst skid since a 12-game slide from Feb. 25-March 21, 2007.

Down 3-2, Edmonton appeared to force overtime when Sam Gagner was credited with his second goal of the game after Mike Modano kicked the puck into his net with 1:02 to play.

But less than a minute later, the Stars netted the winner. Jason Strudwick's clearing attempt went straight to Neal's stick, and he put his 20th of the season past goalie Devan Dubnyk.

Oilers coach Pat Quinn said the loss was one of the hardest to take this season.

"That was a bad way to finish, for sure," he said. "It's disappointing. I hate it. I can't stand it. Tonight should have been a better feeling. It makes me sick to think of how we give games up.

"This started 13 or 14 games into the season, where we started finding ways not to win. They worked very hard to have a good result, and that's what makes this one so distasteful and so disappointing. I knew in my heart when we scored that late goal that we were going to win that hockey game. Unfortunately it didn't grab my heart, it grabbed my guts. We still haven't found a way to stop losing."

Jamie Benn, Trevor Daley and Modano also scored for the Stars, who have won three of four.

"That game came down to the last shot," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. "We got a little bit of a bounce, but I thought we worked hard for that bounce. I liked the way our players dug in.

"It was a step in the right direction, and to get a road win was a real positive. It's huge for us. We have been a little fragile in our road games. We found a way to get the victory, and it's something we can build on."

Ryan Potulny had the other goal for the Oilers.

Dallas started the scoring 6 minutes in when Daley scored his third.

The Oilers got into penalty trouble midway through the first and paid for it on their fourth consecutive kill. Modano's point shot got past Dubnyk as Steve Ott provided a screen.

At that point, the Stars were outshooting Edmonton 17-2.

The Oilers responded with a power-play goal less than a minute later. Potulny put in his own rebound past goalie Marty Turco.

The Stars went ahead 3-1 midway through the second when Ott's pass sent Benn in on a partial breakaway for his ninth goal.

"We hadn't won on the road in I don't know how many games," Stars forward Steve Ott. "It was getting ugly."

The Oilers made it a one-goal game again with just 19 seconds left, shortly after Lubomir Visnovsky rattled a shot at an open net off the post. Tom Gilbert found Gagner at the side of the net and Gagner scored his 11th - this time off of Modano.

"First time I've ever done that," Modano said. "Couldn't have been any more solid. Tried to get it down to my stick and get it out. Kind of sums up two teams that have had a run of bad breaks and we finally won one."

Turco said there was a wide range of emotions in the final minute.

"When (Modano's own goal) went in, I was thinking, 'Why here, why now?"' he said. "I'm sure it felt like a punch in the gut to the guys on our bench but to get out of our streak of losing on the road with the late goal ... that's a huge emotional lift."

NOTES: It was the third meeting between the teams this season. Edmonton won the first two in shootouts. ... The Stars lead the NHL with 16 overtime games. ... With D Steve Staios and D Ladislav Smid out with concussions, the Oilers recalled D Taylor Chorney from Springfield (AHL). Edmonton was also without C Gilbert Brule (flu). ... Stars captain Brenden Morrow (upper body) missed his third straight game. Tom Wandell (lower body) was out again after leaving Thursday's game in the third period. He is day to day. ... Penner, the Oilers' leading scorer, had only three points in 13 games before posting two assists Friday. ... Dubnyk made his sixth career NHL start and the fourth in five games with the Oilers.