Deliberate Stars Paint Ducks Into a Corner

Watching the Dallas Stars can be a little like watching paint dry, only duller sometimes.

But it’s still possible to admire the Stars’ game, mainly because they often do such a good job lulling their opponents into a 60-minute sleepwalk.

The Stars clutch, grab, push, poke and hassle the opposition into a mistake and in a flash they put the puck into the net. Then it’s back to clutching, grabbing, pushing, poking and hassling until the other team makes another gaffe.

To be certain, there are few stars in the Dallas lineup. Mike Modano is one and Andy Moog is another.

Modano supplies many of the Stars’ top offensive moves, which is to say he supplies all of them sometimes. He’s not really on the ice for all 60 minutes, it just seems that way.

Moog provides the perfect backstop for this defensive-minded team, turning aside shot after shot. Many of them aren’t much of a threat because the shooter usually has a Star tugging on his jersey or jabbing at him with a stick.

The Mighty Ducks knew all this going into Tuesday’s game at the Pond. Coach Ron Wilson even tried to match pesky center Shaun Van Allen against Modano. The Ducks tried to fire off as many shots as possible at Moog, hoping to avoid having to run uphill as they did after falling behind, 2-0, to Tampa Bay on Sunday.

It didn’t work.

Modano and Moog were too good, too sound, leading the Stars to a 3-1 victory. Modano assisted on all three Dallas goals and Moog stopped 33 of 34 shots.

“We didn’t give them any time or space,” Moog said.

The Ducks are locked in a chase for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference along with Dallas, Edmonton and the Kings. If Wednesday was any indication, however, Dallas figures to be the odds on favorite to catch up to Winnipeg and Toronto, the teams holding the seventh and eighth playoff spots.

“We’d like to spread it out a little bit,” Modano said after setting up first Joe Nieuwendyk, then Jere Lehtinen and Mike Lalor. “It’s a little congested with all the teams battling [for the final playoff spots].”

The Stars’ victory extended their unbeaten streak to a season-high six games (5-0-1) and was their eighth consecutive victory over the Ducks.

“It seems we get patient out there against the Ducks,” Modano said. “We know it’s not going to be pretty against them.”

The Ducks only wish they could play as ugly, as tight-checking, as patiently as the Stars.

“We did a good job of making Anaheim play more our game than their game,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “This is typical of the way we’ve been playing the last two or three weeks. We were strong on the forecheck and played a really good road game, especially the way the ice was.”

Dallas got a couple of funky bounces for its first two goals. And Moog held the Ducks scoreless until the Stars lost track of Teemu Selanne for an instant and he slipped a pass from Paul Kariya into the net in the game’s final three minutes to wreck the shutout bid.

No matter. Moog has beaten the Ducks four consecutive games and has a 1.23 goals-against average in that span. Further evidence that Dallas is better suited to making the playoffs than the Ducks.