Dallas Defeats Ducks

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

This season, they are 3-3-1 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 of the season with 39 seconds left in the second period to put the Ducks up, 3-2, 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 could not hold the 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 scored the winning goal, skating from behind the net to score 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 Wilson’s and several players’ lips, including Dollas’, who was occupied in front of the net when Langenbrunner scored.

“We had a few missed assignments,” said Dollas, a veteran who has an uncharacteristic plus-minus of minus-5. “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.

The Dallas players helped give goalie Andy Moog an easy night. He faced only 21 shots, watching the preoccupied Ducks go halfway through the second and third periods without testing him.

With the victory, Moog passed Gump Worsley for sixth on the NHL’s all-time win list with 336. His 335th came against the Ducks last Monday, a 3-2 victory in Anaheim. Next in Moog’s sights is 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 to give the Ducks their only lead.

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.

The Ducks wasted a good performance from goalie Guy Hebert, who faced 38 shots after not playing for a 1 1/2 weeks.

“That was probably the best I’ve felt in a while,” Hebert said. “We got the lead, and it felt like the first lead I’ve played with all year, or at least in while. But we got in penalty trouble in the third. That kills you. I’m not saying they were bad calls or bad penalties by my teammates. . . . These are just strange times.”