The top line of Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson and James Neal had goals, Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves and Dallas beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Thursday night in Stars career scoring leader Mike Modano's first game in Texas as a visiting player.
Brenden Morrow added his fourth goal in three games, and Richards and Mike Ribeiro had two assists each for the Stars (3-0) in their home opener.
Dallas was unable to string together three victories all of last season.
Niklas Kronwall's power-play goal at 11:25 of the third period ended Lehtonen's bid for his 15th career shutout.
The Stars scored on four of their first nine shots against a struggling Chris Osgood, who made 11 saves for Detroit (2-1-1).
In 20 seasons as the face of the Stars/North Stars franchise, Modano had 557 goals and 1,359 points, most by a U.S.-born player in NHL history.
The 40-year-old Modano was a free agent over the summer and, when the Stars didn't offer him a contract, he signed a one-year deal Aug. 5 with the Red Wings, his hometown team.
Modano had never even been inside the visiting locker room during his 16 seasons in Dallas, but he knew where to find it.
Modano is wearing No. 90, not his familiar No. 9 with the Stars. In Detroit, No. 9 will always be Gordie Howe, whose number was retired on March 12, 1972.
Detroit coach Mike Babcock opened with his third line centered by Modano, who was cheered when he was announced with the starters.
During a first-period stoppage in play, Modano was shown on the video board with the caption "Thank you, Mike." He received another loud ovation and raised an arm in acknowledgment.
But neither Modano nor his teammates were able to generate many prime scoring chances against Lehtonen.
The Stars were on the power play 28 seconds after the opening faceoff when Brad Stuart was penalized for boarding, and Richards' shot from just inside the blue line eluded a screened Osgood at :41.
Eriksson went hard to the net and converted Neal's pass from behind the net to make it 2-0 at :44 of the second period.
Morrow extended the lead to 3-0 at 7:03 of the second, and Neal gave Dallas a four-goal cushion when he backhanded a shot past Osgood at 16:26 of the same period.
The Stars extended their home winning streak to six games over the Red Wings.
Detroit's Johan Franzen left in the first period with an undisclosed injury and did not return.
Franzen was down on the ice with 8:29 left in the opening period and had to be helped to the bench.
The Red Wings announced early in the second period that Franzen was done for the night.
NOTES: Dallas was without C Jamie Benn (concussion symptoms). ... D Brian Rafalski (knee), F Kris Draper (groin), F Justin Abdelkader (ribs) and D Jonathan Ericsson (back) are out for Detroit. ... Stars LW James Neal was in the penalty box for two different minors in the final five minutes of the first period, but the Red Wings couldn't capitalize.
