Modano Continues His Scoring Spree

Mike Modano didn’t have to think too long to remember the last time he was scoring goals in bunches.

“Three weeks ago,” the 13-year NHL veteran said.

Modano scored two goals Sunday night at St. Paul, Minn., leading the Dallas Stars to a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Modano, who scored twice in a 5-2 loss to Detroit on Saturday night, has nine goals in his last six games and 26 for the season, which ties him for second in the NHL.

Modano also scored in six consecutive games from Dec. 2-15.

“I don’t try to analyze things or think too much,” Modano said.

“I’m just trying to ride the streak and have fun.”

Modano is on pace to match his career-high of 50 goals, set in 1993-94.

He hasn’t scored more than 38 goals in a season since.

“I’ve been getting a lot of breaks lately, and the only difference is I’ve been capitalizing on it,” Modano said.

Ed Belfour, who recently criticized Coach Ken Hitchcock for his frequent use of backup Marty Turco, made 25 saves and had a shutout for two periods en route to his third victory in four starts.

Turco had won seven consecutive starts before losing to Detroit on Saturday.

“Modano and Belfour were the best players on the ice tonight,” Hitchcock said. “When Belfour is aggressive, he seems to play very well. The way he’s playing right now is the way we need him to play down the stretch.”

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Tampa Bay 2, Atlanta 2--Even after squandering a two-goal lead against the lowest-scoring team in the league, the Thrashers were happy with a tie.

Fredrik Modin scored a power-play goal with 12 minutes left in the third period to rally the Lightning to a tie at Atlanta.

The Thrashers, who had their two-game winning streak ended, extended their home unbeaten streak to a franchise-record three games.

Atlanta dominated play in overtime, but failed to convert several scoring chances.

“We had a couple of good chances in the overtime, but we couldn’t buy one,” goaltender Milan Hnilicka said.

“A tie is, I guess I shouldn’t say OK, especially when we were up 2-0, but we’ve got to be happy with the tie.”