Hull Leaves Bruins Speechless

Brett Hull took a strange route to become the 53rd NHL player to score 1,000 career points.

He did it with

None of that mattered as Hull savored the milestone of his brilliant career.

"You start out in this league just hoping you get a chance to make it and play and say I was an NHLer," he said. "Then, all of a sudden, the success comes."

Just as it did for his father, Bobby, whose 1,170 points are 29th in NHL history. The Hulls are the first father-son combination with at least 1,000 points each. They are already the only father-son pair to have 500 goals apiece. Gordie Howe is second in league history with 1,850 points, but his son Mark had 742.

Hull broke a 1-1 tie with 4:26 left while standing on the goal line about 10 feet to the left of goalie Byron Dafoe.

"I thought I had him all the way to the goal line," Dafoe said. "He tipped it off my helmet. I was very surprised it went in."

Mike Modano started the play when he got the puck at the left point and passed to a wide-open Hull skating up the slot. Dafoe then forced Hull far to the right of the crease.

"Dafoe is really aggressive so you have to wait him out," Hull said. "You only have so long. You can shoot it, but you're gointo have to get lucky and have it go through him."

The goal gave the Stars their second road win in as many nights. They had been 1-2-1 away from home before Friday night's 5-1 win in Detroit.

"It was one of our best games of the year," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said of Saturday's victory.

Hull, who began the season with 987 points, reached 1,000 with an assist on Jere Lehtinen's empty-net goal with 34 seconds remaining.

Joe Thornton, last year's top pick in the NHL draft, had given Boston a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the season 2:23 into the game. He took Anson Carter's pass from the left boards and beat goalie Roman Turek with a 15-footer from the inside edge of the left circle.

Turek, making his first start since Oct. 30, turned aside 27 shots and improved to 2-0-1. Ed Belfour got the night off after his fifth consecutive start Friday night.

The Bruins were coming off a 3-3 tie with the New York Rangers on Friday night, giving them a 2-0-2 record in their last four games. Saturday's loss was Boston's first since Nov. 3.

"The stars are probably the best team in the National Hockey League right now," Bruins coach Pat Burns said. "I'm encouraged by our play. We're going to need to take some time to get some things together."

Boston's lead Saturday night didn't last long as Hull tied the game two minutes after Thornton scored with an unassisted goal. Standing to the left of the crease, he pushed the puck into the slot where it bounced off Boston's Jason Allison and into the net.

Both teams had good chances to take the lead late in the second period. With 2:25 left, Turek made a sprawling pad save on a breakaway by Steve Heinze.

"Breakaways, you've got to score on them," Heinze said. "That's the best opportunity you can get."

And with 1:00 remaining, Dafoe stopped Jamie Langenbrunner twice - on a 15-footer from the left and on the rebound that followed.

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