Mike Modano has been chasing records and milestones every year for seemingly the past five years. On Tuesday, he crossed off a biggie.

Modano became the 39th player in league history to reach the 500-goal plateau, scoring No. 500 in the third period of Dallas' 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at American Airlines Center. Of those 39 players, the Michigan native is only the 14th to accumulate all of his goals for one single team, and just the second American to accomplish the feat.


Fittingly, No. 9 scored at 9:36 of the third, sliding a rebound off of Jon Klemm's shot past Philadelphia goalie Antero Niittymaki to pull within two of tying Joe Mullen for the most goals scored by a U.S.-born player. The goal ended up being the winner, the second consecutive game he has given Dallas the victory.

Modano then saluted the crowd from the Stars bench, soaking in the adulation like he was a bright-eyed 19-year-old rookie back in Oct. 1989 following his first goal at the old Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. This time, though, he was a grown man in silent reflection of the instant love affair that developed between himself and the city of Dallas when the franchise moved to Texas in 1993.

"It was a rebirth in my career when I came down to Dallas," Modano said. "We have grown the game together down here in Texas, and it was nice to get it at home in front of our fans. This is a special night in my career and it is extra special that it came in a win at home."

At the first television break, a video tribute was played on the jumbotron, with the crowd once again standing on its collective feet to honor Modano, the face of the franchise since being drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988. After being named as the first star, Modano came out for a curtain call to recognize the fans' support.

"This is the loudest we have had the building in a long time," defenseman Philippe Boucher said. "He has a couple more for another huge milestone. Only a few players can reach a milestone like this, and Mike has really stepped up and carried the team lately. He has been a franchise player forever and as he goes, we go."

Modano had several opportunities before the milestone goal but was denied each time by Niittymaki. His best opportunities came in the second period when he was stopped three times by Niittymaki, including his shot from in tight.

Modano has tallied four times now in his last six games, and appears fully healed from his nagging hip injury that forced him to miss 23 games.

"It's an amazing feat, and he is in an elite group," coach Dave Tippett said. "To score that many goals and do it with one franchise means a lot to him. His success is something he should be very proud of."

Somewhat lost in the history-making moment was Dallas' big win, its third straight since a lackluster performance against St. Louis on Thursday. Mike Smith finished with 17 saves in improving to 9-2 at home, and Jere Lehtinen and Jussi Jokinen also scored for the Stars, 10-2-2 in their last 14 on home ice.

Dallas continues to be slotted in fifth place in the Western Conference standings.

"Mike will be the first one to tell you that our team needs to win, first and foremost," Tippett said.

Down by a goal heading into the third, Philadelphia tied it when Joni Pitkanen's shot went off of defenseman Darryl Sydor's right foot and past Smith to knot the game 1-1 at 6:23.

Over two minutes later the Stars regained their edge on Jokinen's 13th goal. Picking up the puck along the right boards at the Flyers' blueline, Jokinen cut to the middle of the ice in the slot with Mike York hanging on his back. Jokinen fought off York and sent a wrist shot that zipped past Niittymaki's glove and into the net.

Thirty-four seconds later, history was made as Modano picked up one of his uglier goals of his career. Standing in front of Niittymaki, Modano outmuscled Pitkanen and shoveled the puck in after Klemm's shot from the right point popped off the netminder's pad.

"It was a rebirth in my career when I came down to Dallas." Modano said. "We have grown the game together down here in Texas and it was nice to get it at home in front of our fans. The way I played the first few years of my career was eye-opening and Bob Gainey came along to help me change my game. I bought into his system that traded points for wins and I wouldn't change that for anything. This is a special night in my career and it is extra special that it came in a win at home."

Klemm, meanwhile, picked up his 100th career assist on the play.

Scottie Upshall cut the lead to 3-2 with a goal off a backhand from the lower portion of the right circle with 77 seconds left, but Smith made a sprawling save on Jeff Carter with four seconds remaining to preserve the win.

Lehtinen opened the scoring 6:41 into the game with his team-leading 24th goal. From the right corner, Jokinen sent a soft pass to Lehtinen, who was standing in the slot. Lehtinen unleashed a one-timer that beat Niittymaki to the glove side.

Niittymaki was making his first start since the Flyers acquired former Buffalo goalie Martin Biron at the trade deadline two weeks ago, and hasn't won since mid-February.

Dallas outshot the Flyers by a 15-5 margin in the opening frame.

Though the Stars didn't allow any goals in a scoreless second while keeping their one-goal edge, they lost rookie Chris Conner late in the period after he had his legs taken out from by Flyers defenseman Denis Gauthier along the right boards at the Philadelphia blueline. While Conner lay on the ice, Krys Barch engaged in a fight with Gauthier.

Conner limped off the ice favoring his left leg, while Barch was handed 17 minutes in penalties, including a minor for instigating.

Niittymaki kept the Flyers in it with a splendid save on Barch's redirection attempt with six minutes left in the stanza. Driving to the net, Barch tried pushing Conner's pass from near the goal line at the right circle but was denied by the Finnish netminder.

The Stars wrap-up their short three-game homestand on Thursday when they host the Calgary Flames at American Airlines Center. The Flames are one of four teams -- a group that includes the Stars -- that are jostling for the 5-8 seeds in the Western Conference. All four clubs are within a three points of each other.

It will be the fourth and final meeting between the two teams this year, with Calgary winning two of the first three encounters. The Stars beat the Flames 4-2 in mid-January in Dallas when Marty Turco picked up his 160th win, tying Ed Belfour for the franchise mark for most victories by a goalie.

Face-off is set for 7:30, and the game can be seen on FSN

STARGAZING

# Modano joins Brendan Shanahan, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Sakic, Peter Bondra, Mats Sundin, Teemu Selanne and Mark Recchi as the active 500-goal scorers.

# The game completed Dallas' inter-conference schedule, finishing 4-4-2 against the East.

# Defenseman Sergei Zubov is one game shy of playing in his 1,000th career NHL game, a league-recognized milestone. He was held without a point for the first time in four games.

# Former Stars captain Derian Hatcher made his first appearance in Dallas since leaving the Stars following the 2003 season. Heading into the game, Hatcher had accumulated just four points and was a minus-21 for the Flyers this season.

# Conner was in the game for forward Jeff Halpern, who was scratched after being hit with a shot in Sunday's overtime win over Los Angeles.

# Newly acquired defenseman Mattias Norstrom was scratched because of his lower body injury.

# Sydor missed about six minutes of the second period after taking a Pitkanen shot off the bottom of his right leg. Sydor went to the dressing room before returning.

# Ladislav Nagy left the game with six minutes left in the third after he was hit in the face by the puck following Antti Miettinen's high shot. Nagy left a trail of blood on the ice en-route to the dressing room.

# Forward Eric Lindros missed his third consecutive game because of a lower body injury.

# Dallas was 0-for-5 with the man advantage, the first time in four games they failed to score a power-play goal.

# With an assist on Jokinen's goal, defenseman Philippe Boucher has five points in his last four games.


by Bob Matuszak

Thats great for Modano! How much goals do you think he can get before he retires?

I'd say he'll probably get around 750 goals before he calls it quits. That will be a sad day. Peace Out!

congats to him, great player and one of the best american born ones too

Congrats to Modano, but I can't see him scoring another 150 goals. As each year passes he ages a year and now the game is made for the young guns. But I still wish him well in his great career.