Mighty Ducks Without Kariya Left Seeing Stars in Dallas

The other team had more Stars in uniform, by a ratio of 20 to 1.

The Mighty Ducks had only Teemu Selanne, and too predictably, they lost, falling to the Dallas Stars, 4-3, in front of 16,217 Friday at Reunion Arena.

With Paul Kariya out for at least two games because of a concussion, the Ducks had an opportunity to prove they are something without him, but didn’t.

They are 3-3-1 this season when he is in the lineup, 1-9-2 without him.

“We should try to play better without him. We know he isn’t here. There’s no excuse,” said Selanne, who scored his 11th goal with 39 seconds left in the second period, giving the Ducks a 3-2 lead going into the third. “We know he’s not here. We have 23 or 24 other guys who have to do their jobs.”

The Ducks couldn’t hold their lead, allowing Sergei Zubov to tie the score on a power play after defenseman Bobby Dollas was called for interference. The Stars went on another power play after Fredrik Olausson pulled down Mike Modano in front of the net, and the penalty had just expired when rookie Jamie Langenbrunner skated from behind the net wide open to score the winner at 8:18 of the third period.

“We’ve got to play better defensively when [Kariya] is not in the lineup,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “There shouldn’t be a defensive letdown. They were outracing us to the puck. At times, it didn’t look like we wanted to get the puck.

“Our defense had an awful time getting the puck out of our end and making plays. We’d go for 10 minutes and just be brutal.

“What got us in trouble in the third period was a turnover in the neutral zone, failing to get the puck deep, having trouble getting it out of our end and taking a couple of penalties.”

“Frustrating,” was the word on the lips of Wilson and several players, including Dollas, who was occupied in front of the net when Langenbrunner skated around to score behind him.

“We had a few missed assignments,” said Dollas, a veteran who is an uncharacteristic minus-five on the plus-minus scale. “I’m not pointing fingers. We got outnumbered in front of the net. I took a guy and [Dave] Karpa took a guy and he came around.”

“Bobby made a mistake there,” Wilson said. “When they have the puck behind the goal, you can’t get tied up. We turned our backs, and he walked out.”

The Stars, who also got goals from Modano and Benoit Hogue, were missing center Joe Nieuwendyk, who is in Canada after the death of his mother Friday.

Dallas goalie Andy Moog had an easy night, facing only 21 shots.

With the victory, Moog passed Gump Worsley for sixth on the NHL’s all-time win list with 336. Incidentally, his 335th also came against the Ducks, a 3-2 victory Monday in Anaheim. Next in Moog’s sights is the Kings’ Rogie Vachon, who won 355 games.

J.F. Jomphe scored the Ducks’ first goal--his first of the season--at 11:40 of the first and Joe Sacco scored his third of the season to tie the score, 2-2, at 18:48 of the second, shortly before Selanne scored.

Moog stared down the Ducks’ six-on-five attack at the end, though, gloving a shot by Selanne with seven seconds left to keep the Ducks from tying.

Duck goalie Guy Hebert faced 38 shots.