D FAILS AGAINST BIG D

Dallas coach Dave Tippett saw plenty of room for improvement after the streaking Stars' latest victory.

Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen each had a goal and an assist in the Stars' 5-3 win over Chicago on Sunday night. Jussi Jokinen, Jason Arnott and Nathan Perrott also scored for Dallas, which has won seven of its last eight games and 12 of 14.

"We'll take that win, but I'd like to see our team play a little harder, a little smarter," Tippett said. "But we capitalized on our chances and Marty (Turco) made some good saves when we needed them.

"We recognize that we won the game and we scored some goals, but also recognize that we've got to be better. I'm happy with the win, but I want our team to be the best team we can be."

Sergei Zubov and Trevor Daley each added two assists to help the Stars extend their unbeaten streak against Chicago to 11 games (10-0-1).

Modano and Jokinen scored on rebounds in the opening two minutes to stake the Stars to a 2-0 lead. Dallas had a 3-0 cushion after the first period.

The Stars improved to 13-0 this season when leading after 20 minutes, but many Dallas players thought they were lucky to be in command Sunday.

"We weren't sharp tonight, "Modano said. "But it's still nice to know that if you're not on top of your game, you can still find a way to win."

Turco made 29 saves to improve to 9-0-1 against.

"I don't really think about it," Turco said. "I don't think they (the Blackhawks) have been as good as they should be for this organization, but we'll keep taking points from anybody."

Mark Bell, Mikael Holmqvist and Tyler Arnason scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost three of their last four. Jaroslav Spacek had two assists.

"We gave up too many opportunities to score against us tonight and they scored every time," Spacek said

Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin allowed five goals on 20 shots.

"I think we're giving them (Dallas) a little bit too much respect," Chicago forward Kyle Calder said. "We have to come out, be ourselves and play our game."

Modano opened the scoring at 42 seconds. Khabibulin made a pad save on Zubov's shot from the right boards, but Modano was wide open at the left side of the crease and fired in the loose puck. Jokinen converted a rebound from almost the same spot at 1:58 after Khabibulin stopped Stephane Robidas' drive from the right point.

"We spotted them a couple with bad D-zone coverage right out of the gate," Chicago coach Trent Yawney said.

Arnott's power-play goal with just 5.2 seconds left in the period made it 3-0. He also connected from the left edge of the crease, after taking a cross-ice pass from Bill Guerin.

Bell's deflection during a 5-on-3 Chicago power-play at 6:16 of the second cut it to 3-1. Standing in the slot, Bell redirected Spacek's feed past Turco.

Perrott beat Khabibulin high on the glove side with a 40-foot drive from top of the slot with 4:34 left in the period to give Dallas a 4-1 lead.

After fanning on his first attempt, Holmqvist beat Turco from 15-feet out at 1:33 of the third to make it 4-2.

Lehtinen made it 5-2 on a shot from the slot at 9:23 of the period, completing a rush with Modano. Arnason added a power-play goal with 3:30 left.

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