Stars 6, Blues 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Dallas goalie Johan Hedberg had a big game on offense and defense.

Hedberg had two assists and 25 saves Monday night to lead the Stars to a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Hedberg, who got the start while Marty Turco stayed in Dallas with the flu, is the first goalie to have a multipoint game since Colorado's Patrick Roy had two assists against Nashville on Dec. 29, 2000. Hederg has five career points.

"He's like a third defenseman back there for us," Stars center Jason Arnott said.

It was only the sixth game that Hedberg has played. Hedberg, who played with Vancouver in 2003-04, said he knew that with Turco around, he would not get much playing time.

"Marty's one of the absolute best goaltenders in the world," Hedberg said, "and he's been playing that way. I love to play hockey, I think it's fun. But at the same time, I've got to be honest with myself and see who I'm competing with. So, I'll try to help out anyway I can."

On Monday, that included recording two assists, one of which came when he sent Mike Modano in on a breakaway with a pass from just outside his crease. Modano was waiting near the Blues' blue line.

"When you are sending in Mike Modano on a breakaway, that's a great play," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said.

The NHL's new rules allow for that, Hedberg noted.

"It certainly opens up for that kind of play," he said. "They had two guys back there but Mike was waving. It's just an instinct play."

Modano and Stu Barnes both scored twice for Dallas, which has won 17 of its last 22 and is off to the second-best start in team history after 34 games with 47 points. The Stars had 52 points after 34 games in 1998-99 when the team won its only Stanley Cup. Dallas improved to 13-4-0 on the road, tying Buffalo for the wins away from home.

Antii Miettinen and Bill Guerin also scored for Dallas, and Brenden Morrow had three assists. St. Louis defenseman Dennis Wideman spoiled Hedberg's shutout when he scored with 3:52 remaining in the game.

"We didn't test him a whole lot," Wideman said. "You'd like to see us test the goalie a little more than that, but from what I saw, he was pretty sharp."

Blues goalie Jason Bacashihua allowed four goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Reinhard Divis at the start of the third period.

"I didn't feel like myself tonight," Bacashihua said. "I don't know what the problem was, but they had a couple of good chances, a couple of breakaways and they were able to finish."

Barnes got Dallas the only goal it would need 3:26 into the game when he took a centering pass deep in the right circle, hesitated until Bacashihua slid out of position and then put it in the empty net. Meittenen made it 2-0 at 17:34 of the period when he scored on a breakaway, with Hedberg picking up his first assist on the play.

It stayed that way until 15:46 of the second period when Barnes scored his second goal by whacking in the rebound of Arnott's shot.

Notes: Divis allowed two goals on three shots. ... Mike Sillinger was given a game misconduct at 19:31 of the first period for boarding the Stars' Trevor Daley, who injured a shoulder on the play and did not return. ... The Stars improved to 14-0-0 when leading after one period.