The regular phone calls back home to Dad have a specific purpose for Niklas Hagman.

His father, Matti, is a former NHL player and Finnish League superstar, and he also served as Niklas' coach early in his life. So when the old man keeps pushing and prodding his son to reach new goal-scoring heights, it shouldn't be surprising.

"He was very big about me getting the family record this year," Niklas said of the 21-goal mark his dad hit with the Edmonton Oilers in 1981-82. "So now I've tied him, and I'm sure he'll be pushing for me to beat him."

Hagman, whose 21st goal gave the Dallas Stars a huge 1-0 win over Detroit on Sunday, has set multiple career highs this season. He has exceeded his previous bests of 17 goals, 29 points (he has 33) and two game-winning goals (he has a team-best seven). He has been a savior for the Stars in several key situations.

"He's at the right place at the right time," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I think he's always been like that, always been around it, but this year they're going in."

On his goal Sunday, Hagman picked up a rebound from the right side of the crease and put a quick return shot into the net before Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard could get over. It was symbolic of Hagman's season – making opportunistic use of his skill.

"Maybe it was a bit of a lucky bounce," Hagman said. "They kind of forgot me, and it was right on my tape."

That said, he had to put the puck in the net, and that's something nobody else in the game did, no matter how many chances they had. That's something Ol' Dad will be sure to bring up during the next phone call.

"I had gone a few games [four] without a goal, so I was starting to think about it a little," Hagman said. "But I know that now that I've tied him, he will be really pushing me to beat him. I've got 19 games left to try to get the 22nd, so it's some pressure."

Penalty kill on a roll: The Stars' penalty kill stopped four Detroit power-play opportunities Sunday and has gone 39-for-42 (92.9 percent) during it last 10 games – a 9-1-0 stretch. That keeps Dallas atop the NHL in penalty kill success.

"We had a lot of guys sacrificing tonight, blocked shots, Marty [Turco] made some big saves, winning key face-offs, making sure the puck gets down," Tippett said. "Things that I think our penalty kill we're very strong at, we had to be at max against this team."

Detroit entered the game with the third-most successful power play in the NHL at 21.0 percent.

Briefly: D Dan Jancevski was recalled from Iowa as a precaution because of a facial injury D Mark Fistric suffered Friday against Anaheim. Fistric recovered and played Sunday. Jancevski practiced with the Stars and watched Sunday's game, but he is expected to return to the Iowa Stars today. ... Joel Lundqvist was inserted into the lineup after sitting out eight games. He played 9:58 and had two hits. ... The Stars scored the first goal for the 31st time in 63 games this season. Dallas is 21-6-4 when scoring first. Detroit allowed the opposition to score the first goal for only the 19th time. The Red Wings are 6-10-3 when giving up the first goal.