Stars Look the Part in Win Over Ducks

This was predictable. Everyone played to form.

The Dallas Stars got the lead, clutched tight, and skated away with a 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks Wednesday night. Teams that win Stanley Cups tend to do those things.

The Ducks, missing their entire top line, were held without a shot in the first period, then made a mistake here, another there and talked afterward about how close they came. Teams that miss the playoffs can get stuck in that rut.

No one among the 17,001 fans in Reunion Arena was surprised, nor were the Ducks in hindsight.

“If they get you down, they can keep you there,” Duck left wing Marty McInnis said. “They have those tough defensemen and play a real good team game.”

True, the Stars played up to their standards. They got the lead, courtesy of two Shaun Van Allen goals, and protected it by playing a style as dull as home movies in the third period. The Stars had only four shots in the third period.

The Ducks, though, seemed to wallow at their level. OK, they were without the injured Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya and Steve Rucchin, their top line. An anemic offensive performance was to be expected, but this was the first time the Ducks have been held without a shot in a period.

A couple of defensive lapses were all it took to put the Ducks in a hole, where the Stars kept them.

“We are limited right now to what we can do,” Duck Coach Guy Charron said. “We are not going to get the kind of offense we would get if everyone were healthy. We can’t play a free style right now. We have to work on defense.”

The Stars, meanwhile, made good despite their losses. Brett Hull out because of a rib injury? No problem. Van Allen matched his season output with two goals. Goalie Ed Belfour late returning from Christmas in Chicago because of flight delays? No worries. Marty Turco stopped 19 of 20 shots, including a sprawling save on a Dan Bylsma point-blank shot midway through the third period that preserved a 2-1 lead.

This game seemed headed for a snoozer before it began, with Selanne, Kariya, Rucchin and Hull out. That sidelined 1,318 NHL goals.

But who needed Hull with Van Allen around? He picked up a rebound in front of the net, then waited for goalie Dominic Roussel to commit before scoring on a backhander for a 1-0 lead at 19:14 of the first period.

Van Allen struck again in the second period, swooping down the slot to take a pass from Brenden Morrow and then easily beating a helpless Roussel for a 2-0 lead at 13:42.

“At times I see progress,” Duck center Tony Hrkac said. “We’ll play real well for a few shifts, a half-a-period. Then we go back to the way we’ve played all season, back to bad habits.”

Add offensive stagnation to the list. The Ducks were outshot, 23-1, in the first period by Detroit Friday. They couldn’t even mange the one this time, even with two power plays.

“I didn’t think they were on top of us, but we didn’t get outplayed that badly,” McInnis said.

Turco agreed.

“The shots were flying past me,” Turco said.

Just not at him.

“We kept hitting their shin guards,” Charron said. “We need to find a way to miss those shin guards.”

The Ducks did after the first period. German Titov slipped behind the defense and slipped a backhand shot past Turco as three embarrassed Star players gave chase. The goal cut the Dallas lead to 2-1 at 17:14 of the second period.

Titov and the penalty-killing specialist Bylsma, who had four shots, generated most of the Duck offense. Titov nearly tied the score when he redirected a shot just wide in the third period. He then set up Bylsma from behind the net, but Turco hit the ice and knocked the puck away at the last second with 11 minutes left.