Champion Ducks are on ropes now

Five minutes were still to be played in Game 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals and there was another mass exodus of fans from the Honda Center.

It appears as if the Ducks are heading for an early exit as well.

A second-period rally that gave the reigning Stanley Cup champions their first look at challenging Dallas was buried in a three-goal wipeout by the Stars in the third period of a 5-2 victory Saturday night that gave them control of the best-of-seven series.

Right now, the crown that the Ducks are wearing is weighing them down like an anchor. After a 4-0 blowout loss in Game 1, this wasn’t the kind of repeat they imagined.

“I’m disappointed,” Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. “I just don’t think as a team, we’re playing as well as we can. The whole group, we’re just struggling right now. There’s no reason why.”

Any thoughts about repeating as champs are now reduced to just getting back into the series. The Ducks’ odds at getting out of this round are long.

Teams have come back from a 2-0 deficit in a series only 13.2% of the time. Carolina is the last team to rally from a similar deficit after dropping its first two games at home. The Hurricanes defeated Montreal in the 2006 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Mike Modano’s power-play goal, the Stars’ sixth in two games, ended a 2-2 tie to start the third-period onslaught. Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson delivered the final body blows that sucked the remaining air out of an announced standing-room-only crowd of 17,181.

The Stars also got a goal and two assists from Mike Ribeiro, and Jere Lehtinen also had a power-play goal to support a 20-save effort by goalie Marty Turco.

“We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and understand what it takes to win some games here,” Ducks captain Chris Pronger said. “We’re just not doing the little things it takes to win at this time of year.

“I don’t think any of us would have imagined it’d be that way. We’re here now and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

It was another night of mistakes for the Ducks that were too much to overcome. A bad turnover by defenseman Francois Beauchemin led to Ribeiro’s breakaway goal in the first period. More penalties in the offensive zone, this time by Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan, led to the power-play goals by Lehtinen and Modano.

The Stars have converted six of 13 power plays in the two games.

“We’re not making the saves, we’re not playing well defensively and we’re not scoring enough goals,” said Giguere, who stopped 25 shots. “Altogether, it’s pretty ugly out there.”

The Ducks appeared to snap out of their playoff funk in the second period when Teemu Selanne scored on a power play and Travis Moen finished off a rush with Todd Bertuzzi to tie the score at 2-2.

Momentum swung in their direction. There was a power play handed to them to start the third period as Dallas captain Brenden Morrow was whistled for charging to end the second. Another power play came the Ducks’ way when Richards was called for tripping.

The Ducks did nothing with those advantages. Ryan, a rookie playing in his first postseason, was called for hooking and Modano ripped a slap shot past a screened Giguere to give Dallas the lead for good.

“It definitely took the momentum away from us for whatever reason,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said.

“It was like we were primed and ready with the power play to start the third period. We were flat on that. We didn’t really get into the zone and do much with it.

“We got another power play and it was the case again. It seemed to be the turning point for us.”

It could be the turning point for Dallas in their recent playoff history. Since losing to New Jersey in the 2000 Cup finals, the Stars have not made it out of the second round and have lost in the first round the last three years.

“I think there’s a lot of people around this series that didn’t think we could win,” Richards said. “It’s a big challenge. Still is. This is nothing.”

Meanwhile, the Ducks sought to find any hope.

“It’s going to be a bumpy road,” Selanne said. “We’re very disappointed that we have to go there down two games. We’re going to stick together and stay positive.

“Everything is still in our hands.”

--

eric.stephens@latimes.com