Game Recap

DALLAS 5, EDMONTON 2 DALLAS (AP) - The Edmonton Oilers changed players, coaches and general managers over the past five seasons. One thing, however, remains the same -- they still can't win in Dallas. Mike Modano scored the tiebreaking goal with 15:48 to play as the Dallas Stars remained undefeated at home against the Oilers over the last half-decade with a 5-2 victory Wednesday night. "It's certainly a lesson in futility whenever we play these guys," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish. "It's one painful lesson after another. They have more gamesmanship than we do." The Stars are 9-0 in the regular season against the Oilers at Reunion Arena since the start of the 1996-97 season and 13-1-1 against Edmonton at home since the franchise moved from Minnesota in 1993. Stars coach Ken Hitchcock traces the dominance to the 1997 playoffs when Edmonton pulled a first-round upset. "When you have that happen to you, you can fold your tent or become steely," said Hitchcock, an Edmonton native coaching his 400th NHL game. "We became steely. Our players look forward to these games because they know they're going to be high-energy. The players get excited about this game." Modano's first shot, after he skated through the entire Edmonton team, was stopped by Oilers goalie Tommy Salo. Seconds later, Modano fired from the left circle to beat Salo for his 10th goal of the season that gave Dallas a 3-2 lead. The Stars usually play a tight-checking conservative style, but they get into high-energy shootouts with the Oilers. "It was a joy to play in a game like that," Modano said. "There haven't been many like that lately. That makes it fun." Brett Hull scored the 627th goal of his career in the second period and added two assists for the Stars. Jamie Langenbrunner's short-handed goal with 10:13 left and Grant Marshall's power-play goal with 3:25 remaining extended Dallas' lead to 5-2. Rem Murray's seventh goal of the season at 4:16 of the second period gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead. Hull's team-leading 17th goal of the season tied it at 1 at 13:11 of the second period. Hull's initial shot rang off the crossbar seconds earlier, and Hull skated to the net to knock in Brenden Morrow's goal-mouth feed. Shawn Horcoff scored his first NHL goal on a rebound to give the Oilers a 2-1 advantage at 17:38 of the second period. But Joe Nieuwendyk notched his 12th of the season on a breakaway eight seconds later to lift the Stars into a 2-2 tie. DALLAS STARS 5, Edmonton Oilers 2 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Edmonton 0 2 0 2 Dallas 0 2 3 5 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Brewer, Edm (elbowing), 8:54; Poti, Edm (cross-checking), 11:32; Ulanov, Edm (hooking), 19:04. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Edmonton, Murray 7 (Poti, Marchant), 4:16. 2, Dallas, Hull 17 (Morrow, Modano), 13:11. 3, Edmonton, Horcoff 1 (Laraque, Niinimaa), 17:38. 4, Dallas, Nieuwendyk 12 (Zubov), 17:46. PENALTIES: Laraque, Edm (interference), 6:54; Zubov, Dal (interference), 18:25; Smyth, Edm (tripping), 19:45. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 5, Dallas, Modano 10 (Sim, Hull), 4:12. 6, Dallas, Langenbrunner 6 (Hatcher, Lukowich) 9:47 (sh). 7, Dallas, Marshall 3 (Sydor, Hull), 16:35 (pp). PENALTIES: Smith, Edm (tripping), 5:50; Morrow, Dal (slashing), 6:47; Matvichuk, Dal (slashing), 8:21; Morrow, Dal (roughing), 13:06; Ulanov, Edm, major-game misconduct (cross-checking), 13:06; Laraque, Edm (cross-checking), 18:43. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Edmonton 6 7 3 16 Dallas 6 16 6 28 POWER PLAY: Edmonton 0 of 3; Dallas 1 of 8. GOALIES: Edmonton, Salo 13-12-4 (28 shots-23 saves). Dallas, Belfour 13-7-4 (16-14). Referees: Blaine Angus, Greg Kimmerly. Linesmen: Dan McCourt, Dan O'Rourke. A: 17,001 (17,001).