Stars Keep It Simple, Beat Oilers

The Dallas Stars aren’t trying to make the crowd-pleasing plays at home anymore, and the simplified style is paying off with a much-improved record at Reunion Arena.

Sergei Zubov and Joe Nieuwendyk each scored twice and Mike Modano had a goal and three assists as the Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-1, Sunday.

From Nov. 1 to Jan. 1, Dallas was 4-8-2 at home. Since then, it is 8-2 at Reunion Arena for an 18-11-2 home mark, second-best in the Western Conference.

Zubov scored his first goal of the game with 11 seconds left in the second period when his wrist shot beat Oiler goalie Curtis Joseph from the right circle, giving Dallas a 2-1 lead.

Colorado 4, Ottawa 3--Claude Lemieux, Scott Young and Sandis Ozolinsh scored in the final six minutes as the Avalanche came back from a two-goal third-period deficit at Denver.

The Avalanche trailed 3-1 when Lemieux scored his sixth goal. Young tied it with his 17th at 15:42 and Ozolinsh scored the game-winner at 16:14 with his 20th. The three goals came against Ron Tugnutt.

Philadelphia 2, New York Rangers 1--Goaltender Garth Snow only had to make 14 saves in extending his unbeaten streak to 14 games at Philadelphia.

The air-tight Philadelphia defense held the Rangers to 15 shots while the Flyers fired off 37.

Pat Falloon and Janne Niinimaa scored for the Flyers.

Buffalo 5, Boston 1--Michal Grosek scored two goals at Buffalo as the Sabres extended their unbeaten streak to 12 games.

Dixon Ward keyed the victory by breaking a 1-1 tie late in the first period. Matthew Barnaby added a goal and two assists. Brian Holzinger scored the other Buffalo goal.

Calgary 5, St. Louis 3--Jon Casey got a rare start in goal for St. Louis, and Calgary took advantage of his rustiness.

Robert Reichel and Steve Chiasson scored in the third period as the Flames recovered from a two-goal deficit at St. Louis.

Casey, making his first start in 11 games in relief of Grant Fuhr, was shaky in the third period.

After trailing 3-1, Calgary finished off a four-goal run with an empty-netter by rookie Jarome Iginla with 25.4 seconds to go.

New York Islanders 4, Pittsburgh 1--It was a day of rarities for the Islanders, and all contributed.

Rich Pilon scored for the first time in more than two years, and the Islanders converted twice on their woeful power play at Uniondale, N.Y.

New York took a 1-0 lead 6:11 into the game when Pilon scored his first goal since Feb. 20, 1995.

Marty McInnis scored only the third power-play goal for the Islanders in their last 30 chances when his 45-foot slap shot got past Patrick Lalime at 14:33 for a 2-0 lead.

Tampa Bay 4, San Jose 3--Brantt Myhres scored for the first time in 30 games, completing the Lightning’s comeback from a four-goal deficit at Tampa.

Rob Zamuner set up the game-winner with a perfect backhanded pass from the right circle during a two-on-one break. Myhres re-directed the puck past Kelly Hrudey at 13:04.