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Jokinen scores four as Stars roll past Avalanche

Nov 17, 2007 - 5:32 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- So much for Jussi Jokinen's struggle to score goals.

Jokinen netted a career-high four tallies and defenseman Sergei Zubov collected four assists as the Dallas Stars on Friday cruised to a 6-1 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche.

Jeff Halpern and Mike Ribeiro also scored and Mike Modano recorded a pair of assists for Dallas, which halted a three-game losing streak.

"We couldn't get closer to 60 minutes than that," Modano said of the Stars' effort. "It was a great start. A lot of good things happened for us to get the lead, and we controlled the pace throughout."

"I thought we had a great game by our whole team," Halpern added. "It was nice that we played a good 60 minutes. We kept pucks in and it made us look a little faster because we were skating in their end a lot."

Entering with just three goals in 17 games this season, Jokinen matched that total in the second period alone. But the Finn began his career night early in the opening session, when he beat goaltender Jose Theodore to the glove side with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle during a power play at 4:22.

"It's been a frustrating couple of months for me," Jokinen said. "It was my first goal on home ice. It's nice to hear that sound again and get a little confidence."

Jokinen, who began Friday with two career two-goal performances, gave the Stars a 2-0 advantage at 3:47 of the middle period. From a bad angle, the 24-year-old put a wrister past Theodore from the bottom of the left circle for his fifth of the season.

Halpern scored on a deflection less than two minutes later to stretch Dallas' lead to three before Jokinen continued his assault.

During another man advantage, Zubov skated to the top of the right circle before spotting Jokinen, who received a pass at the left side of the net for an easy redirection seven minutes into the period, completing his first career hat trick.

"I had a hat trick my last season in Finland, but I'm of course so happy," he said. "And it's a special feeling to do this in the NHL for the first time."

"The puck had eyes tonight," Modano said. "It was due. Great to get a little jump for him."

But Jokinen did not stop there, as he beat Theodore with a shot from the top of the slot at 10:52 for a 5-0 cushion. It was the first four-goal game by a Star since March 21, 2001, when current co-general manager Brett Hull accomplished the feat against Anaheim.

"The last time I scored four goals was like seven years ago," Jokinen said.

"He had (three) goals in 6 1/2 minutes," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "I was mad for not getting him on the ice more."

The franchise record for most tallies in a game is five, set by Tim Young on January 15, 1979 against the New York Rangers when the organization was known as the Minnesota North Stars.

Zubov set up all four of Jokinen's goals, matching his career high for assists in a contest.

"Zubie has been great for a long time, and he gave me some great passes tonight," Jokinen said.

"He was excellent," Tippett added. "He did the right things with the puck. Not a spectacular four assists, but he makes plays look so easy."

Mike Smith made 17 saves but had his shutout bid end when Jaroslav Hlinka tallied with 3:45 remaining in the third period.

"Smith was solid. He covers a lot of ground, that's what we were looking for tonight," Tippett said.

Theodore was pulled after allowing five goals on 15 shots. Peter Budaj came on and made 10 saves, allowing only Ribeiro's tally with five minutes remaining in the final session.

"We've got to play in front of (Theodore)," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "We've got to play smarter, harder and execute the game plan."

"There are some bad games and some awful games, and this may be worse than both of those words," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "Every area, we were poor. We made a couple critical mistakes on their goals. We got dominated in every aspect of the game."