Stars Shoot Down Mighty Ducks

January 16, 1999 / 1:19 AM EST / AP

Heading toward their second consecutive Presidents' Trophy as the team with the NHL's best record, the Dallas Stars are setting their sights on loftier goals -- like the franchise's first Stanley Cup.

If the talent-laden Stars don't go all the way this time, especially afteradding free agent superstar Brett Hull to the roster in the off-season, many in and out of the organization will consider this season a bitter disappointment.

"I think everybody will look at it that way," Mike Modano said Friday night after his goal and two assists powered the Stars to a 3-1 victory over Anaheim. "We're thinking deep into the playoffs, but it's going to be two months of tough hockey and you need some luck to get to the finals.

"Right now we just want to get stronger game by game as the season goes on, get everybody healthy at the right time of the year and make a hard push."

The Stars have been to the finals twice in their history, in 1981 and 1991. Last year they got as far as the Western Conference finals before Detroit beat them in six games en route to their second consecutive Stanley Cup.

"I think it's natural that our success has to be something that we haven't done in the past," general manager Bob Gainey said. "So in the spirit of trying to do more and better than last year, a trip to the finals would seem to be what we need to do.

"A championship is what every team wants. There are a number of good teams that could be champions this year, so I think we need to play like champions and play like a team that should be in the finals. If we play to our maximum, or close to it, we'll take the results."

Jere Lehtinen also scored for Dallas and Mike Keane added a power-play goal as the Stars improved their NHL-leading record to 27-7-7. They also ended Paul Kariya's club-record point-scoring streak on home ice at 17 games.

Ed Belfour, who had 27 saves, stopped Anaheim's first 22 shots and lost a bid for his seventh career shutout against the Ducks with 11:10 remaining when Fredrik Olausson cruised across the crease during a power play and converted Marty McInnis' centering pass for his ninth goal. Olausson has scored in each of his last four games -- getting the Ducks' first or only goal each time.

Modano opened the scoring at 5:27 of the first period with his 15th goal. Lehtinen's rising slap shot from the left point handcuffed Guy Hebert, who couldn't control the rebound and attempted to clear the puck to Steve Rucchin. But Modano intercepted it in the slot and beat Hebert to the glove side.

"It was really kind of an innocent play," Modano said. "Jere was able to grab it at the blue line and he just threw it at the net. I think I kind of surprised Rucchin by getting around him at the last second. Hebert played it right to the middle of the ice and I was able to scoop it up and get a shot off."

Lehtinen gave the Stars a two-goal lea after a turnover deep in the Anaheim zone by defenseman Ruslan Salei. Hull got a stick on the attempted clearing pass and Modano got the puck to Lehtinen, who put his 15th goal over Hebert's glove and into the top right corner of the net at 13:11 of the period.

The second period was only 70 seconds old when Keane took a cross-ice pass at the inner edge of the left circle and whipped a 20-footer over Hebert's glove to make it 3-0 and help Dallas salvage a road trip that began with shutout losses at Calgary and Vancouver and ended with a 2-2-1 mark.

"That team is very disciplined in playing their system," Olausson said. "They work really hard and their execution is big. They're a sound team. Dallas plays for perfection -- and they're pretty close."

The Stars, who entered the game with a league-leading 1.90 goals-against average, did not allow Anaheim to get a shot on net for almost nine minutes after the first intermission.

The Ducks, who boast the league's best power play on home ice (28-for-107) didn't even get their first power play until 40 seconds into the third period, when Hull high-sticked Kariya in the mouth. Dallas' only other penalty, a slashing call against Modano, led to Olausson's goal.

"We talked about that for two days," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Our scouts really felt strongly that their team gained a lot of momentum off the power plays, so we didn't want to give them any momentum."