<
>

Zubov feeds Morrow to lift Stars over Oilers in OT

DALLAS (AP) -- Brenden Morrow and Sergei Zubov missed connections seconds earlier for the Dallas Stars, but they didn't waste a second chance.

Morrow scored his 10th of the season on a power play when he redirected Zubov's pass with a minute left in overtime, lifting the Stars to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night.

With the Stars skating 4-on-3, Morrow lifted Zubov's pass over Edmonton goalie Mathieu Garon with Jarret Stoll in the penalty box for holding.

"We tried the same play 30 seconds before and I flubbed it," Morrow said. "We talked it over a little during a timeout. He made the pass crisp and where it had to be."

Zubov said he was looking for Morrow, but it wasn't a set play.

"It worked the second time," Zubov said.

Zubov scored and had three assists and Mike Modano notched his 517th career goal for the Stars, extending his career leads in goals and points (1,245) among U.S.-born players.

With 28 points, Zubov leads NHL defensemen in scoring.

"Zubov had an amazing game and he makes it look easy sometimes," said the Stars' Mike Ribeiro, who had a goal and an assist. "He sees things before they happen and is so patient with the puck."

Rookie Matt Niskanen and Ribeiro also scored for Dallas, which
moved out of a tie with San Jose and into sole possession of first
place by two points in the Pacific Division.

"Points are valuable home or away, and against a young, hungry team, it makes them bigger," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.

Rookie Sam Gagner, Dustin Penner, Tom Gilbert and Shawn Horcoff scored for the Oilers, who lost their third in a row.

Edmonton is 3-17-1 in Dallas since 1996.

With the score even at 3 and Dallas with an extra attacker on a delayed Edmonton penalty, Zubov found an opening in the upper right corner of the net on a shot from the right circle at 14:20 of the second period.

But Horcoff tied it 4-all with his 14th goal of the season when he poked a rebound into and open net past an out-of-position Marty Turco at 10:36 of the final period.

The game got off to a wild start as the teams combined for five goals on only 10 shots in a 4:40 span of the opening period.

Gagner, whose father Dave played for the Stars from 1987-96, notched his third of the season on a one-timer from the left circle at 4:26 of the first period.

Dallas tied it at 1 at 6:44 of the opening period when Ribeiro scored his 13th.

Modano scored on a deflection that beat Edmonton starting goalie
Dwayne Roloson 22 seconds later, but Edmonton drew even at 2 on
Penner's seventh at 8:26 of the first period.

The Stars went back in front 3-2 at 9:06 of the first on Modano's 10th of the season off a goal-mouth feed from Jussi Jokinen, and at that point, Oilers coach Craig MacTavish replaced Roloson with Garon.

"Three goals in 10 minutes is too much," MacTavish said. "I can't say exactly what the problem was, but it was time for a change."

Edmonton pulled into a 3-all tie at on Gilbert's fifth goal at 10:40 of the second period.

Game notes
Back in the lineup for Dallas were RW Antti Miettinen, who had missed seven of the previous eight games with a groin injury, and LW Loui Eriksson, who sat out one game with a shoulder problem. ... LW Raffi Torres and Stoll, healthy scratches in Friday night's loss to St. Louis, were back in the Edmonton lineup. Torres and Stoll both had assists on Gilbert's goal. ... Out for Edmonton were D Sheldon Souray (shoulder), D Dick Tarnstrom (concussion), LW Ethan Moreau (ankle) and D Matt Greene (ankle).ankle