Stars Beat Ducks

By Stephen Hunt, The Sports Xchange

DALLAS — After an 0-2 weekend road trip, the Dallas Stars wanted to make a statement at home, where they will play eight of their next nine games, Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks.
And thanks to five third-period goals and a goal and two assists from captain Jamie Benn, the Stars dominated in a 6-2 win at American Airlines Center.
“There was a lot of good inside the game,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought our penalty killing was good, especially when you treat that team to two 5-on-3s.”
Dallas (12-13-6) also got goals from Stephen Johns, Dan Hamhuis, Adam Cracknell, Patrick Eaves and Radek Faksa to start a five-game homestand with two points.
“We see this homestand as a big one,” Jamie Benn said. “It could be make-or-break. We want to be making something of this.”
Tyler Seguin and Jordie Benn had two assists each, and Antti Niemi made 34 saves for the Stars.
“Well, obviously, he (Niemi) played good, but we made him good too,” Ducks forward Rickard Rakell said. “When we’re on our game, we score on those chances we had today.”
Anaheim (15-10-5) got a goal and an assist from Ryan Getzlaf and a goal from Corey Perry in the start of a six-game road trip.
“It takes 60 minutes to win a hockey game in the NHL, and we didn’t play 60 minutes,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “We only played 40.”
Following a scoreless opening period, the teams traded goals late in the middle frame. Johns gave Dallas its first lead, although that edge proved fleeting, with his third goal of the season 6:38 before the second intermission.
Johns broke the deadlock with a wrist shot from near the Anaheim blue line, which crossed the goal line via the five-hole of Ducks goaltender John Gibson, who stopped 19 shots prior to being pulled in the third period.
The Ducks made it 1-1 just over two minutes later when Getzlaf scored his third goal with 4:14 remaining in the second period. Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya was battling Rakell behind the Dallas goal when he attempted to clear the puck.
However, Oduya’s attempted backhand clearance under duress was intercepted by Getzlaf, who delivered the equalizer despite not striking the puck cleanly.
“Obviously, when you’re starting a road trip, you don’t want to end the first game the way we did tonight. We’re going to go back to work tomorrow and get prepared for the next one,” Getzlaf said.
Anaheim pulled ahead early in the third when Perry scored a power-play goal 1:08 into the final frame, setting off a hearty round of boos from the Dallas crowd. Perry displayed some deft stickhandling after receiving a pass from Getzlaf in front of the Dallas goal. After maneuvering his way to the far post, Perry finished with a backhand for his seventh goal of the season.
Twenty seconds earlier, Dallas had killed off its second 5-on-3 power play of the game, but the Ducks capitalized on this man advantage, resulting from a faceoff violation on Jamie Benn 12 seconds before the second intermission.
Hamhuis pulled the game level with a power-play goal at 5:41 of the third, his first tally in a Dallas uniform. Hamhuis, who was celebrating his 34th birthday on Tuesday, scored from the slot by tapping in a Benn pass from the right side.
“I was nice to get that first one out of the way,” Hamhuis said. “Jamie (Benn) made a great play. It wasn’t very hard for me to put that one in after he made that great pass.”
It was Hamhuis’ first goal in 32 games, since April 1, when he scored against Anaheim with Vancouver.
Dallas regained the lead 48 seconds later when Cracknell skated toward the visiting goal from the right side and sent the puck toward the net, where it deflected off Perry’s stick for his third goal of the season.
Following a short official review to determine if Devin Shore high-sticked Perry, replays showed the puck deflected in off Perry’s stick.
Eaves scored his 11th goal of the season from the slot with 9:09 remaining to put Dallas up 4-2. Jamie Benn then gave the Stars a three-goal lead with 7:36 remaining by redirecting a pass from his older brother Jordie.
Jamie Benn’s ninth goal of the season chased Gibson from the game with Jonathan Bernier replacing him in the Anaheim crease. Bernier stopped both shots he faced in relief of Gibson.
“You’ve got to give the players in the room a lot of credit for seizing the moment in the third period there and turning the tide our way,” Ruff said. “Our best players were our best players, and it made a big difference.”
Faksa added an empty-net goal with 6:03 remaining during a 4-on-4 situation.

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