Winning streak ends for Ducks

DALLAS -- Expecting no end to the dizzying run that propelled the Ducks to the Pacific Division lead would be unrealistic.

Even the defending Stanley Cup champions can’t be that good.

Looking sluggish and frustrated against a Dallas Stars team bent on having their say in the division race, the Ducks went home with a 5-2 loss Sunday at American Airlines Center that ended their six-game winning streak .

Brenden Morrow and Niklas Hagman each scored two goals to easily offset goals by the Ducks’ Mathieu Schneider and Ryan Getzlaf as the Stars (28-18-5) never trailed in snatching back the Pacific lead from the Ducks, whose first regulation loss since Dec. 30 dropped them to 27-18-6.

A performance that Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle called “inept” was underscored by the fact that they had only nine shots on Stars goalie Marty Turco in the first two periods and 11 until Schneider scored midway through the third.

“It’s one you just throw away,” Carlyle said. “We turn the page on that one because we weren’t very good. We were out of sync for sure. We had more guys falling down tonight than we had in the last three weeks.”

From the first puck drop, the Stars were out to get the high-flying Ducks off their game by getting under their skin.

Dallas pest Steve Ott started things off by face-washing Todd Bertuzzi with his glove before getting one in return from the Ducks winger. Another agitator, Krys Barch, took a run at Getzlaf in the open ice.

Before the game reached the five-minute mark, Ducks rookie Ryan Carter was mixing it up with Stars center Mike Ribeiro and defenseman Sean O’Donnell was doing the same with Morrow, with all drawing roughing penalties.

Ribeiro was the first to snap as he picked up an additional unsportsmanlike penalty that gave the Ducks the game’s first power play. But that advantage was gone when Getzlaf couldn’t keep his cool in another scrum and was called for roughing.

“We were pretty physical early,” Dallas Coach Dave Tippett said. “We had some guys that were good in the grit department, in the heart department. Steve Ott stirred the pot enough and everybody else had to jump in.”

Bertuzzi was whistled for high-sticking Ott at the 8:27 mark of the first period even though replays seemed to show that he never got his stick up after getting checked. But Bertuzzi drew another two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Stars had a four-minute power play.

“I haven’t seen the replay so I’m not sure what happened there,” Bertuzzi said. “I’m an older player so I’ve got to be a little bit more smarter and I’m obviously cognizant of that.

“I’ll accept responsibility on that. I shouldn’t have taken a four-minute in a situation like that. That was undisciplined on my part and won’t happen again. But I’m not clear on the first one.”

Stephane Robidas converted when he jumped on a loose puck in the Ducks’ zone and ripped a slap shot by Jean-Sebastien Giguere on the stick side for a lead the Stars would never lose.

“Our discipline’s got to be better,” Carlyle said. “We can’t have these confrontations with officials. We were frustrated.”

The only mystery would be whether Getzlaf could keep the NHL’s longest streak of games with a point going, which he did with his 19th goal with 6:50 remaining in the game.

Getzlaf’s 14-game streak is the third longest in Ducks history and the longest since Teemu Selanne had a 15-game streak in 1996. But the goal only cut the lead to 4-2 and Hagman finished the Ducks off with one into an empty net.

“We just didn’t play tonight,” Giguere said. “We didn’t play to our potential. You can’t come into this building and only have nine shots in the first two periods and think you’re going to win the game.”

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eric.stephens@latimes.com