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Friday, Mar. 24 8:30pm ET
Stars peaking in time for playoffs | |||||
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BOX SCORE
DALLAS (AP) -- Since late January, Mike Modano's been the NHL's top scorer. With the playoffs looming, the Dallas Stars center wants to keep up the pace. Modano notched the tie-breaking goal with 11:43 to play as the Stars extended their unbeaten streak to six games with a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. Modano broke the 1-1 deadlock with his 35th goal while the Stars were on a power play, snapping Brenden Morrow's goal-mouth pass past Blackhawks goalie Jocelyn Thibault. "It was a great play (by Morrow)," Modano said. "You could see it develop. He knew I was there." Since Jan. 20, Modano has a league-best 41 points -- 19 goals and 22 assists over a 28-game span. "I'm just out there reacting and good things are happening," Modano said. "I'm trying to keep it real simple." Joe Nieuwendyk tapped a loose puck into an open net for his 13th goal, with 11:16 left, to extend Dallas' lead to 3-1. Jamie Langenbrunner and Mike Keane scored empty-net short-handed goals in the final 1:10 for the Stars, 1-2-1 in their first four games against the Blackhawks in the season series that concluded Friday night. "They're the kind of team that has nothing to lose," said Stars center Guy Carbonneau, who returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a fractured wrist. "So that makes it hard to play them. They were down by two goals at the end and they were still pulling their goalie so they didn't care if we kept scoring or not." Keane added a second-period goal and Ed Belfour made 17 saves for the defending Stanley Cup champions, 5-0-1 in their last six games. Dallas was coming off a four-day layoff and appeared rusty in the early going. "The game was up for grabs until the third period," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Once we knocked the rust off, we were able to create some scoring chances. We played a smart game in the second and third periods." Michal Grosek scored a first-period goal for the Blackhawks, who had their season-long six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) come to an end. "I don't think we played that bad," Blackhawks defenseman Bryan McCabe said. "We've played well against those guys all year. It was 1-1 going into the third period, but then they got a big power play goal to break it open." Grosek scored his 13th goal at 18:01 on a rebound. Dallas tied it at 1 at 13:50 of the second when Keane knocked the rebound of Roman Lyashenko's shot past Thibault for Keane's 10th goal. Stars left wing Scott Thornton began serving a three-game suspension on Friday night. Thornton received a match penalty for high-sticking late in a game against San Jose on March 19. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Chicago Clubhouse Dallas Clubhouse RECAPS Pittsburgh 5 Atlanta 3
Dallas 5
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