Ducks Impede Stars’ Progress

Once the Mighty Ducks got the lead, goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere knew his work was cut out for him.

Giguere made 27 saves to lift the Mighty Ducks to a 2-1 victory over Dallas on Sunday, snapping the Stars’ six-game unbeaten streak.

Dallas is in an eight-team scrap for the final five playoff spots in the West, while the Ducks are out of the playoff race.

“They’re desperate right now, fighting for a playoff spot, so we knew they were going to come at us hard, especially at the end,” Giguere said.

Steve Rucchin scored a second-period power-play goal after a fortunate carom off the boards and Dan Bylsma scored with 14:43 left as the Ducks earned their second straight road victory over the Stars after going 2-16-1-0 on Dallas ice.

The Stars were prepared for a low-scoring game. The Ducks have two goals or less in each of their last six games, four on the trip that ended on Sunday.

“Anaheim’s done this throughout the road trip,” Dallas interim Coach Rick Wilson said. “It’s no accident that it’s tough to score on them.”

Kirk Muller scored on a deflection with 7:55 left for Dallas, which saw its 3-0-3 run end, despite a 28-13 advantage in shots on goal. The Ducks’ 13 shots were a season low by a Star opponent.

The Stars’ best opportunity to tie the game came with 1:15 remaining when a shot by Mike Modano hit the crossbar.

Rucchin collected his sixth goal to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 7:02 of the second. Paul Kariya’s pass into the Dallas zone took a wild hop off the end boards and landed in front of the net on the stick of Rucchin, who beat Star goaltender Ed Belfour.

“It was unlucky on Dallas’ part,” Rucchin said. “You hate to see a goal like that be a difference in a hockey game but we’ll take it.”

Bylsma converted Matt Cullen’s pass in the third period for his eighth goal to make it 2-0.