Stars Lose Game 5 To Ducks
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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Arriving back in southern California battered and bruised after two losses in Texas, the Anaheim Ducks used home cooking and great special teams play to push the Dallas Stars to the brink of playoff elimination.
Center Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and two assists and goaltender Frederik Andersen made 34 saves as the Ducks defeated the Stars 6-2 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. Anaheim leads the series 3-2 and can eliminate the Stars win Sunday in Dallas.
The Ducks used two early third-period goals to clinch the win. Leading 3-2, winger Jakob Silfverberg scored his first goal of the playoffs at 1:07 when he banged home a feed from winger Andrew Cogliano. Getzlaf followed with a wrist shot from the slot at 4:30 that drove starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen from the net.
Winger Corey Perry added his second goal of the series on the power play at 6:49 to close out the scoring. He finished with a goal and two assists.
The Ducks set a franchise record by scoring four power play goals on six opportunities while keeping the Stars off the board on their seven power play attempts.
“I don’t know why the power play worked tonight; some nights things
just go your way,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We did shoot the puck harder at the net from the blue line.”
The return of Getzlaf was instrumental to the Anaheim offense getting back on track. After missing Game 4 with an upper-body injury, he cleared himself to play just before stepping on the ice for the pregame warmup. He powered an offense that struggled to score in both losses in Dallas.
“Ryan gives us a dimension that you cannot replace when he is out of the lineup,” Cogliano said. “He is an MVP candidate and energized us tonight to show how important he is to this team.”
Dallas coach Lindy Ruff thought that his team’s inexperience was the difference in the game but is optimistic that the Stars can extend the series past Sunday at home.
“We were a young team tonight,” Ruff said. “We play great in our building and we did a lot of good things tonight. We utterly dominated the second period but lost the special teams battle.”
Stars captain Jamie Benn looks forward to the elimination game as a big challenge to the young team. He was Dallas’ best player on the ice throughout and they will need a similar performance to play a seventh and deciding game.
“Now it’s our turn to go back to our barn,” Benn said. “We are going to forget about this one and focus on the next.”
The Ducks opened the scoring with a power-play goal by center Nick Bonino at 5:32 of the first period. Bonino took a pass from Getzlaf and beat Lehtonen with a wrist shot as he was falling to the ice for his first goal of the playoffs.
After Dallas left winger Ryan Garbutt received a five-minute major and game misconduct for spearing Perry, the teams quickly traded goals. Benn converted a Getzlaf turnover for a short-handed goal at 10:00 of the first period and Ducks winger Rickard Rakell responded with a tip-in for his first career playoff and NHL goal at 10:26.
The teams exchanged goals in the second period to keep it a one-goal game after 40 minutes. Anaheim opened a 3-1 lead on center Mathieu Perreault’s second goal of the series on the power play at 1:05. Getzlaf carried the puck into the zone along the right offensive boards and his perfect pass hit Perreault in stride.
Dallas drew within one at 8:19 of the second period on center Sean Horcoff’s first playoff goal. Center Vernon Fiddler took a shot that hit a player in front of the net as Horcoff got inside Ducks defenseman Luca Sbisa to bang home the loose puck.
