snapped a season-high four-game winless streak with a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.Modano, who gave Dallas a 2-0 lead at 7:41 of the third period with his fourth shorthanded goal of the season, lifted a wrist shot over goaltender Arturs Irbe's right shoulder from the left faceoff circle for his team-leading 32nd tally.
"I know Arturs' tendency is to play back a little against shots that are close in," Modano said. "He's also a short goaltender and I knew I wanted to go high on him. I waited a second or two and was able to pick my spot."
Ed Belfour made 26 saves and seemed well on the way to his sixth shutout before the Hurricanes struck for a pair of goals late in the third period.
Sami Kapanen and Glen Wesley scored in a 38-second span as Carolina forged a 2-2 tie with 2:51 to play, forcing the Stars into overtime for the sixth time in 11 games. But Dallas improved to 3-1-12 in OT, while Carolina slipped to 1-5-14.
"Overtime is something we didn't want to do right now," Modano added. "We've been struggling a little bit lately with our concentration and we've just had to weather this little storm that we've been in lately."
The Stars, who had been 0-2-2 in the previous four games, avoided their longest winless streak since going 0-3-2 from March 1-12, 1998. Dallas improved to 6-0-1 in the last seven meetings with Carolina.
Irbe had to stop only 14 shots for the Hurricanes, who are winless in their last seven road games (0-5-2). Carolina's lead over second-place Florida was shaved to five points in the Southeast Division.
"We played a helluva game and that's why it was so frustrating to lose," said Carolina coach Paul Maurice. "Our effort was there from the opening faceoff and we played hard throughout. I wouldn't be as frustrated if we played poorly and lost. I don't think we deserved to lose this game."
Joe Nieuwendyk opened the scoring with a slap shot from the slot off a feed from Jamie Langenbrunner that snuck under Irbe 6:09 into the second period.
With Carolina on the power play early in the third period, Modano poked a loose puck past Kent Manderville at the point before breaking in alone on Irbe. Modano skated straight in on the goalie before deking right and banging a wrister off the left goalpost and in to give Dallas a 2-0 lead.
Belfour appeared unbeatable until the late stages of regulation. He made a sliding pad save on Curtis Leschyshyn's snap shot from point-blank range midway through the second period and followed that by getting an elbow on Keith Primeau's wrister from the slot with 8:41 left.
"To come back and tie the game the way we did was very good for us," said Primeau. "But then, to let it all fall apart in overtime is a huge disappointment."
Kapanen's 22nd goal came seconds after his release from the penalty box. He fed Manderville in the slot before one-timing a perfect return pass just inside the left post to pull Carolina within 2-1 with 3:29 remaining.
Wesley took a soft wrister from the top of the slot that wove its way through a screen before knotting the contest with 2:51 left.
Brett Hull stripped Marek Malik behind the net before skating out to the point. He sent a cross-ice pass to Sergei Zubov who promptly fed Modano for the game-winner.
"It was a great pass by Brett across to Sergei," said Modano. "Brett doesn't get enough credit for his passing abilities. Zubov always finds the open guy."
Dallas, which was 0-for-3 on the power play, improved to 20-6 in one-goal games. The Hurricanes were held scoreless on four chances with the man advantage but had a 28-17 edge in shots. [TICKER]
Former Flyers captain Primeau retires from NHL (2006-09-15)Flyers' Forsberg may be ready for opener (2006-07-11)NHL: Dallas 3, Carolina 2 (ot) (1999-03-22)3 (11285)
