By Bob Matuszak

It's been money in the bank whenever the Dallas Stars enjoy a two-goal lead in a game this season. On Saturday, they made another deposit.

Stu Barnes, Mike Modano and Jussi Jokinen had a goal and an assist each, Jeff Halpern added a goal, and Marty Turco made 24 saves to give the Stars a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators at the Nashville Arena. The win gave Dallas a sweep of a grueling two-game road trip in which it took on the top two teams in the Western Conference on consecutive days.

"I thought we played a very good game tonight," coach Dave Tippett said. "We were disciplined and played smart hockey. We put some pucks at the net and carried it through real well."

The Stars were the beneficiaries of some emotional leftovers from their dramatic 4-3 shootout win in Detroit 24 hours earlier. Getting out of the gate quick in Music City, the Stars popped in two goals before the game was five minutes old against a team they may face when the first-round of the playoffs begin in just over a week.

Dallas is now a perfect 28-0 this year when holding at least a two-goal lead.

"We came in here and played crisp and a good road game to take the win," said Modano, who is now eight points behind Phil Housley in his chase to become the top U.S.-born point-getter. "It's prep time for us as the playoffs approach, and we did a good job of getting ready for the postseason."

The win -- Dallas' 10th in the last 12 games -- gives the Stars 102 points, but they remain four behind Pacific Division-leading Anaheim, which defeated St. Louis in overtime on Saturday. The Stars, who still have a game in hand over the Ducks, face Anaheim at American Airlines Center this coming Friday.

Dallas remains the fifth seed in the West, two points ahead of idle San Jose.

"We're very happy with the effort tonight and the outcome," said Turco, who won for the 36th time.

The game also featured the return of Nashville's Jordin Tootoo, who played for the first time since he was handed a five-game suspension after sucker-punching Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas in a game two weeks ago. Robidas is still sidelined with a concussion.

The Stars refused to take any stupid penalties in retaliation, instead choosing to watch Tootoo be a non-factor throughout the game. He picked up three penalties, including a diving call in the first period and a roughing call late in the game that put an end to any Nashville comeback threat.

Halpern opened the scoring just two minutes in, netting his eighth of the year while giving Dallas a 1-0 lead for only the second time in eight games. Barnes sent a pass from the right circle in the direction of Halpern, who was being tied up by defenseman Greg Zanon at the top of the crease. Halpern re-directed the pass with his skate and past goalie Tomas Vokoun. After a two-minute video review, the goal was upheld.

The Stars made it 2-0 2:43 later after Jokinen wrested home his 14th of the year from the slot. The play started when Modano sent a shot from the goal line near the left corner that ricocheted off Vokoun's skate and onto the stick of a wide-open Jokinen.

Nashville closed the gap to 2-1 on Zanon's third of the year less than two minutes later. From the right point, Zanon sent a shot that eluded Turco, who was screened by Predators' forward Jerred Smithson.

Dallas regained its two-goal advantage on Barnes' 12th at 13:21. Mattias Norstrom gobbled up Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter's giveaway and rifled a slap shot from the left point that Barnes was able to deflect while the puck was about a foot off the ice. It was Norstrom's second point since being acquired from Los Angeles in a trade deadline deal.

Dallas let a golden opportunity slip by early in the second period when they failed to capitalize on a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play. With both Tootoo and Zanon whistled for minor penalties just 41 seconds in, Vokoun turned aside all four shots he faced on the Stars' two-man advantage.

Nashville began to take some of the play away from the Stars entering the second-half of the middle frame, and was able to cut the lead to 3-2 on Alexander Radulov's 17th at 13:53. Following a flurry in which Turco steered away three consecutive shots, Radulov was able to lift the puck over the netminder from the bottom portion of the right circle.

Turco preserved the slim lead just over a minute later when he foiled Nashville center Vernon Fiddler's breakaway attempt with a sprawling save with five minutes left. The shot was Nashville's seventh straight during a frantic 66-second stretch.

"The momentum that they had in the second was something we wanted to take back, and I thought we did good job of increasing our intensity, especially with the way the environment was in that building tonight," Turco said.

Dallas outshot the Predators by a 26-15 margin in the first two periods to help quiet the vociferous crowd.

"If you're the visiting team coming in and it's a hostile environment, that's fun," Tippett said. "We did a good job of maintaining our intensity throughout the game."

In the third, Modano iced the game with his 21st at 10:31 to give the Stars a 4-2 lead. Jokinen came down the right wing and took a shot that went off Nashville defenseman Shea Weber. Modano swooped in to pick up the loose puck and shoot it into a vacated net for his eighth goal in the last 11 games.

"The first 20 minutes were really solid, and I thought we played smart, good disciplined hockey throughout to get the win," Modano said.

The Stars will wrap up the season this week, playing three of four games at American Airlines Center beginning with Monday's encounter with the St. Louis Blues. Dallas has dropped two of the first three games between the two teams this season, including a 5-3 loss on March 8 in St. Louis.

Following that game, which was the Stars fourth straight loss, Dallas promptly went on its current 10-1-1 stretch.

The game will be televised nationally on VERSUS starting at 7 p.m.

STARGAZING

# It was Barnes' second multi-point game of the season, and first since picking up a goal and an assist against Los Angeles on Dec. 16. It was Jokinen's ninth multi-point game.

# Modano has 1,224 career points.

# Forward Jere Lehtinen left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury. He will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

# Rookies Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist were scratched, with Krys Barch and Steve Ott replacing them in the event something developed with Tootoo.

# Center Mike Ribeiro was held pointless for only the second time in the last seven games.

# Dallas was 0-for-4 on the power play, snapping a string in which it had scored at least one goal with the man advantage in eight straight games.

# Nashville has lost six of its last nine, and is one point behind both Detroit and Anaheim for the top spot in the Western Conference with 105 points.

# The Stars won three of the four games between the two teams this season, and are 10-2 and a tie the last 13 meetings with the Predators.

wow, u guys are on fire now, great comeback the other day

Damn straight, All the way baby!!