Ducks increase lead over Stars

DALLAS -- Todd Bertuzzi had the puck in front of the Stars’ net and only a split second to decide what to do with it.

“I was going to try to go to my forehand,” the Ducks’ burly winger said, “but there wasn’t a lot of time on the clock and I just wanted to get it on net as quick as possible.”

Bertuzzi decided to stay on his backhand, a decision that might have a great impact on the Western Conference playoff picture.

His nifty shot from about 15 feet out slipped past goaltender Marty Turco with 27.2 seconds left Wednesday, lifting the Ducks to a 2-1 victory in what they hope will stand as a dress rehearsal for the first round of the playoffs.

In defeating Dallas for only the second time in seven games this season and first time at the American Airlines Center, the Ducks stifled all seven Stars power plays, a dramatic turnaround from Dallas’ 34.6% success rate in the teams’ previous six games.

The fourth-seeded Ducks, 4-0-1 in their last five, also increased their lead over No. 5 Dallas to three points with seven games to play, and that’s significant. Home-ice advantage in the first round could be vital for the Ducks, who are 17-17-4 on the road.

“We wanted to let them know either at home or on the road we’ll be a tough team to beat,” goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said after stopping 20 Dallas shots, 17 of them in the first two periods.

“We know the playoffs are coming and we’re talking about making sure that every aspect of our game is on pace for playoff hockey. The more we get close to it the better we’ll play.”

Giguere, the most valuable player in the Ducks’ unsuccessful 2003 playoff run and equally crucial to their Stanley Cup triumph last spring, is approaching playoff readiness.

He’s 12-2-2 with a 1.36 goals-against average in his last 16 games. He was beaten Wednesday only on a short-handed breakaway by Brenden Morrow at 12:44 of the first period.

“This time of year you’ve got to be a desperate hockey team,” Giguere said.

After a flat start against the Stars, who have lost six of their last seven games, the Ducks played with more urgency in the middle period, tying the score on Scott Niedermayer’s 40-foot wrist shot five seconds into a power play.

Bertuzzi seemed to always be crowding the net -- once getting an interference penalty for it -- and his instincts kicked in during the third period, when the post-whistle scrums and trash talking intensified to new levels.

“We’ve had some physical games with them for a few years,” Morrow said of the emotional atmosphere. “On paper now it’s our matchup. It could be a little bit of a buildup for that first round.”

It was Morrow’s interference penalty that gave the Ducks their final, decisive power play.

Morrow was sent off with 1:13 to play for impeding Bertuzzi’s progress through the neutral zone, though Morrow said the two were skating their lanes and simply collided.

Of course, Bertuzzi’s version differed.

“Are you kidding me? Want to go down our list?” he said, referring to a series of penalties the Ducks believed should have been called against Dallas. “It’s interference.”

To the Stars, that penalty was just one of a multitude of sins.

“We’re finding ways to lose instead of finding ways to win,” Coach Dave Tippett said.

For the Ducks, the opposite has lately been true. They scent the playoffs and they’re showing that they’re ready for battle.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com