American stars Mike Modano and Keith Tkachuk reached two more milestones – and helped give their last-place teams big victories.
Modano broke a tie on a power play with 2:21 left in Dallas’ 4-3 home victory over Edmonton on Sunday night. The 38-year-old became the 31st NHL player to reach 1,300 points and pushed his record for goals by a U.S.-born player to 537.
“I’ve been blessed to have been around this long,” said Modano, the Michigan native playing his 20th NHL season – all with the Stars.
Tkachuk became the 72nd player to reach 1,000 points, scoring the tying goal late in the second period in St. Louis’ 4-2 victory in Atlanta. The 36-year-old has 511 goals and 489 assists in 17 NHL seasons.
“I’ve played a long time, and this just means I’m just getting older,” said Tkachuk, a former Boston University player from Massachusetts. “I appreciate the game more as I get older. I’ve been fortunate.”
In the only other NHL games Sunday, Florida beat the New York Rangers 4-0, and Anaheim topped Carolina 4-1.
In Dallas, Modano beat Oilers rookie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers from the left circle off a feed from Brad Richards.
“That was a great shot there, especially on a milestone goal that was so meaningful for our group,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “You don’t get 1,300 points without being a great player, and that was a great goal.”
Sean Avery gave Dallas – last in the Western Conference with 20 points – a 3-2 lead with 5:09 remaining off a centering pass from James Neal, but Edmonton tied it with 3:22 left on Kyle Brodziak’s second goal of the game.
Dallas’ Toby Petersen scored his first goal in two seasons, and Mike Ribeiro had a power-play goal. Ales Hemsky added a goal for Edmonton.
In Atlanta, Tkachuk scored his 11th goal of the season for St. Louis, last in the Central Division and just two points ahead of Dallas in a three-way tie for 12th place in the Western Conference.
“It was exciting to celebrate and have the guys come out on the ice,” Tkachuk said. “Just the way the guys reacted was pretty cool.”
Brad Boyes followed Tkachuk’s tying score with the go-ahead goal midway through the third. Jay McClement added an empty-net goal, and David Backes also scored.
Colby Armstrong and Niclas Havelid scored for Atlanta. The Thrashers have lost six of their last seven games.
Panthers 4, Rangers 0
verall in the NHL.
With Florida leading 1-0 on Ville Peltonen’s breakaway goal in the second, Weiss and Campbell connected to knock out Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the second time in three home games. Michael Frolik added a a goal and an assist.
Ducks 4, Hurricanes 1
At Raleigh, N.C., Rob Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne scored in a 1:09 span of the third period, and Niedermayer added another goal for Anaheim.
The Ducks, 13-3-3 since a 3-1 loss to Carolina on Oct. 19, tied a team record with points in eight consecutive road games. Ryan Getzlaf added a goal. Jonas Hiller made 36 saves, allowing only Matt Cullen’s first-period goal.
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