Wednesday, Feb. 14 8:30pm ET
Mondano notches 869 career points
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DALLAS (AP) – Mike Modano got a lot accomplished Wednesday
night.
The Dallas forward became the leading scorer in Stars franchise
history, recorded his 500th career assist, and led his team to a
4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
|  | | Mike Modano's three points moved him past Neal Broten to become the Stars' all-time scoring leader. |
Modano snapped a 2-2 tie with 55.9 seconds left and also had two
assists to give him 869 career points, two better than previous
leader Neal Broten, who played primarily when the franchise was in
Minnesota.
"I guess it's a trifecta," said Modano, who was a teammate of
Broten as a teen-ager when Modano started his career in Minnesota
in 1989. "It was a special night. I had a lot of emotions.
Afterwards you think about everybody that's been a part of it for
12 years. It comes flashing back.
"When you're 18 years old, all you want to do is make the team
so you don't think about things like this."
Bob Corkum's power-play goal with 13:50 left lifted the Kings
into a 2-2 tie.
But Modano scored his 20th goal of the season from the left
circle off the arm of Kings goalie Steve Passmore.
"It's a big load off Mike," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.
"The countdown has been there and he's been feeling it. He was
playing his third game in four nights, but he seemed to get
stronger as the game went on."
Jere Lehtinen, who scored into an empty net with 25.7 seconds
remaining, gave the Stars a 2-1 lead with 18:59 left. Modano earned
an assist to tie Broten.
Modano passed to Lehtinen, who skated down the right side and
sent the puck toward the net from a sharp angle. The shot went in
off the stick of Passmore.
Corkum beat Stars goalie Ed Belfour from low in the right circle
for his fourth goal of the season. Seconds earlier, Modano's
blistering shot from 45 feet hit the goalpost.
Modano also assisted on Lehtinen's empty-net goal to move two
points past Broten.
"We knew he was going to do it, it was just a matter of time,"
said Stars defenseman and captain Derian Hatcher. "You could see
he wanted it. With the game-winning goal, it was perfect. That's
the way it should have been."
Darryl Sydor of the Stars and Mathieu Schneider of the Kings
traded second-period goals.
The Stars opened a stretch of five consecutive home games, their
longest of the season. Dallas is 4-1-1 in its last six games.
The Kings routed the Stars 8-0 on Jan. 30 in Los Angeles, the
worst defeat for the franchise in nine seasons. After the game,
Hitchcock accused the Kings of mocking the Stars in the third
period with the game out of reach, blaming Kings coach Andy Murray.
Murray recently contended to reporters that the Kings were
laughing at an inside joke that had nothing to do with the Stars.
For the Stars, who'd lost three straight to the Kings, the
victory atoned in part for the miserable showing in January.
"This year we haven't fared well against them and we wanted to
send a message that we weren't going to roll over," Sydor said.
"We were able to shut them down defensively and they were a little
frustrated."
Hitchcock read Murray's explanation in the local newspapers, and
said he accepted it.
"It looked in very poor taste," Hitchcock said. "Not knowing
all the circumstances, any coach would be infuriated. I'd never
seen anything like that in 30 years as a coach. But his explanation
in the paper was fine for me."
Murray was more interested in talking about Modano, who was a
player when Murray was an assistant coach for the Minnesota North
Stars.
"What a great player he is," Murray said. "You could see he
was going to be great when he was a young player in Minnesota.
What's impressive to me is his determination. He's matured."
The Stars took a 1-0 lead at 12:08 of the second period on
Sydor's power-play rebound.
The Kings tied it 1:49 later when Schneider's attempt to pass
the puck high toward the net went in off the face of Sydor. The
shot drew blood, but Sydor continued to play after receiving a few
stitches on the bench from team medical personnel.
Game notes
The Stars have been successful on 18 of their last 20
penalty kills. ... Los Angeles is 2-14-3 at Reunion Arena. ... The
Kings are 1-4-1 since their rout of the Stars and are 2-7-1 in 10
games overall.
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NHL Scoreboard
Los Angeles Clubhouse
Dallas Clubhouse
RECAPS
Detroit 4
Carolina 3
Florida 4
Phoenix 3
Ottawa 3
New Jersey 2
Philadelphia 3
NY Islanders 1
Pittsburgh 2
Minnesota 1
Columbus 2
Toronto 2
San Jose 7
Chicago 0
Dallas 4
Los Angeles 2
Washington 4
Vancouver 3
Edmonton 3
Anaheim 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mathieu Schneider scores when the puck deflects off Darryl Sydor's face and into the net.
avi: 1200 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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