Stars Get Hit Where It Hurts, Ducks Win

This one figured to be a mismatch all the way. And it was, but certainly not the way you might have expected.

The Mighty Ducks outhit, outshot, outskated and, finally in overtime, outscored the listless Dallas Stars, 2-1, Sunday before 17,154 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

The game’s turning point came not on a spectacular end-to-end rush for a goal by Paul Kariya or Teemu Selanne. Nor did it happen on a superb save by goaltender Guy Hebert.

Instead it came on a vicious open-ice check by newly acquired defenseman Drew Bannister on Dallas center Jamie Langenbrunner with the Stars leading, 1-0, 6:13 into the pivotal third period.

An open-ice check?

Drew Bannister?

Surprise, surprise.

“Drew Bannister’s hit really turned us around,” Kariya said.

The Ducks had outplayed the Stars for most of the game, but they had nothing to show for it. Mike Modano’s power-play goal at 6:07 of the second period gave the Stars a 1-0 lead.

But after Bannister’s molar-rattling check on Langenbrunner, the near-sellout crowd and the Ducks roared to life.

Energetic rookie Jeff Nielsen scored the tying goal at 14:52. It took a fortunate bounce to end the shutout streak Dallas goaltender Ed Belfour had against the Ducks at an amazing 207:59, but the Ducks took the goal and ran with it.

Joe Sacco’s goal 3:38 into overtime, off a pass from Kariya on a two-on-one break, made the Ducks winners against the Stars for only the third time in 15 games.

Sacco leaped for joy at game’s end and was soon mobbed by his happy teammates. They had good reason to celebrate.

It was the Ducks’ first victory this season when trailing after two periods. They were 0-18-4. It also was the Stars’ first loss after leading after two periods. They were 21-0-4.

The Duck goals were their first against Dallas this season. Belfour had shut them out by scores of 4-0 and 5-0.

Plus, it was only the Ducks’ sixth victory at the Pond. They went into the game with a 5-13-3 home record, worst in the NHL.

“I might not always get the big hit, but I’m physical, I’m young and enthusiastic,” said Bannister, acquired Friday from the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Bobby Dollas. “Hopefully, I can help us win some games.”

He certainly didn’t hurt the Ducks in either of his first two games, playing solid defense in both. He also provided a dose of physical play that often seems lacking from the Ducks.

“We had a lot of big hits from a lot of different people tonight,” Coach Pierre Page said. “We’ve been trying to just play hockey. It’s not enough.”

It helped to get a quirky goal from Nielsen, who also was not afraid to hammer a Dallas player against the boards.

With the Ducks dominating the third period, but failing to get anything past Belfour, Nielsen raced down the right wing. He flipped the puck on net and Belfour figured to handle it easily.

But enforcer Brent Severyn appeared to knock the puck from Belfour’s glove before referee Don Koharski could whistle the play dead. The puck then trickled across the goal line before Belfour could scramble to it.

“He played a very good game,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said of Belfour. “But you can’t have that goal. This is a game we could have won, 1-0. We need that save. When it was 1-1, they had more ‘want’ than we did. They had more aggression and tenacity than we did. We had too many passengers.”

The Ducks continued to circle the Dallas net, but couldn’t produce the game-winner until Selanne intercepted an errant pass in overtime.

Selanne fed the puck to a streaking Kariya on left wing. Dallas defenseman Darian Hatcher gave Kariya far too much room and Belfour played him to shoot the puck.

Neither counted on Sacco sneaking down the right wing to tap Kariya’s pass into an open net. In fact, Belfour believed it was Selanne who had scored.

“[Kariya] made a good pass and Selanne’s not going to miss those too often,” Belfour said.

Sacco laughed when told Belfour thought Selanne had scored the game-winner.

“He did?” Sacco said. “Well, I guess he doesn’t have to know it was really me.”