Modano's Record Goals Lead Stars to Win

Mike Modano got the record over with early against the San Jose Sharks, and Marty Turco took care of the rest. <br/><br/>Modano scored two goals in the first 4:24 to surpass Phil Housley's career record

Thursday, November 8th 2007, 7:42 am

By: News On 6

Mike Modano got the record over with early against the San Jose Sharks, and Marty Turco took care of the rest.

Modano scored two goals in the first 4:24 to surpass Phil Housley's career record for points by a U.S.-born player, and the Dallas Stars beat the Sharks 3-1 Wednesday night.

Modano, the 37-year-old Michigan native who has been the star of the Stars for nearly two decades in Minnesota and Dallas, tied the mark with a long slap shot past Evgeni Nabokov just 2:19 in. The speedy center added a short-handed goal moments later, earning grudging applause from the Shark Tank crowd for the longtime foe's latest remarkable feat.

Modano thought he would reach the mark much earlier in the season, even gathering his family and friends in Dallas for a few fruitless home games. He felt elation mixed with relief when he finally held the record-setting puck in front of a banner printed up by the Stars marking the occasion.

``The longer it's drawn out, the more it's forced me to appreciate the situation and enjoy it, start having some fun,'' Modano said. ``I think it's kind of dragged me down a little bit emotionally thinking about it every night, going out there and trying to make it happen. The two tonight couldn't have been written up any better with the first two shots, two goals.''

Steve Ott also scored for the Stars, who were outshot 39-12 _ but Turco made 38 saves in Dallas' fourth straight victory in San Jose.

In other NHL games, it was: Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh 1; Buffalo 2, Boston 1 in overtime; Tampa Bay 3, Florida 1; Detroit 3, Nashville 2 in a shootout; Chicago 5, Columbus 2; Colorado 4, Edmonton 3 in a shootout; and Phoenix 6, Anaheim 5 in overtime.

Matt Carle scored and Nabokov made just nine saves for the Sharks, who have lost four of their conference-low five home games despite maddeningly huge shot advantages. The Sharks have 64 shots more than their opponents in those four losses.

But Joe Thornton and his teammates couldn't score _ not like Modano.

The six-time All-Star has 1,233 points in 1,253 regular-season games _ 242 games fewer than Housley played. Modano became the American career goal-scoring leader March 17, and he extended his record to 511 goals with his two quick tallies.

After Modano earned two ovations from the San Jose crowd, the rest of the night belonged to Turco and the Dallas defense. The Sharks had 25 shots but just one goal in the first two periods, and the Stars blocked an astonishing 13 more shot attempts.

Flyers 3, Penguins 1

Joffrey Lupul and Jeff Carter scored on two of visiting Philadelphia's first three shots and the Flyers beat the Penguins for the first time in two seasons.

Mike Richards also scored for the Flyers, who scored twice in slightly more than 5 1/2 minutes against Penguins backup goaltender Dany Sabourin.

Sabres 2, Bruins 1, OT

Clarke MacArthur scored 3:16 into overtime, and Ryan Miller made 25 saves to give host Buffalo the win.

Ales Kotalik also scored for the Sabres, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Lightning 3, Panthers 1

Martin St. Louis and Jan Hlavac scored first-period goals and Johan Holmqvist stopped 22 shots to help host Tampa Bay snap a six-game losing streak.

Kamil Kreps scored in the second period for the Panthers, and Tomas Vokoun finished with 31 saves.

Red Wings 3, Predators 2, SO

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg scored shootout goals to give host Detroit its eighth straight win.

Jiri Hudler had a goal and an assist in regulation for the Red Wings, and Dan Cleary got the other goal. Chris Osgood made 28 saves.

Blackhawks 5, Blue Jackets 2

Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith scored during a decisive stretch in the third period, and Chicago rallied to beat visiting Columbus.

James Wisniewski and Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks, who handed the Blue Jackets their first regulation loss in seven games.

Avalanche 4, Oilers 3, SO

Wojtek Wolski and Marek Svatos scored shootout goals to lead host Colorado to its sixth win in seven games.

Colorado goalie Peter Budaj, who finished with 30 saves, denied Sam Gagner, Ales Hemsky and Marty Reasoner in the shootout.

Coyotes 6, Ducks 5, OT

Peter Mueller got his first career hat trick, Shane Doan scored with 30.3 seconds left in overtime and Phoenix extended its road winning streak to five games.

Steven Reinprecht had a power-play goal and two assists and Radim Vrbata scored in his third straight game for the Coyotes.