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Modano, Stars travel to face the Coyotes

Nov 8, 2007 - 2:50 PM Dallas (7-6-2) at Phoenix (6-7-0) 9:00 pm EST

GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- With Mike Modano's pursuit of Phil Housley now out of the way, the Dallas Stars can finally begin to concentrate exclusively on winning games.

Modano and the Stars visit the Pacific Division rival Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday.

The veteran scored two goals to become the all-time leading scorer among U.S.-born players in Dallas' 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

At 2:19 of the first period, Modano, who entered the game one shy of Phil Housley's all-time record of 1,232 points for Americans, took a pass from defenseman Sergei Zubov along the right wing boards and wristed a shot under goaltender Evgeni Nabokov's glove from the right faceoff circle to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.

Just 2:05 later, American hockey history was made when Modano took away the puck from San Jose's Joe Pavelski at center ice, poked it past defenseman Matt Carle and skated in alone on Nabokov. The 37-year-old pushed a backhander between the netminder's pads at 4:24 for Dallas' fourth shorthanded goal of the season.

The tally gave Modano, a native of Livonia, Michigan, 1,233 points in 1,253 career games. Housley, who hails from St. Paul, Minnesota, needed 1,495 contests to establish the mark.

The win was the Stars' third straight and fourth in five road games.

The Coyotes have had little to cheer about this season, ranking last in the Pacific Division with 12 points in 13 games. Leading scorer Shane Doan has managed just 11 points for Phoenix, which ranks last in the Western Conference with 29 goals.

However, the Coyotes appeared to break out of their offensive funk in Wednesday's 6-5 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks. Peter Mueller netted a hat trick and Doan tallied the winner with 30 seconds left in the extra session.

Mueller, a 19-year-old rookie, entered the contest with just one career goal.

Phoenix won the first meeting between the teams, 5-0, last Friday at Dallas. Doan tallied a goal and an assist in the thrashing.