Shorthanded Ducks end nine-game winless streak by beating Stars
Chris Kreider and Beckett Sennecke scored goals, Lukas Dostal survived a barrage of shots in the final minutes, and the Ducks beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Tuesday night to end a nine-game skid.
Jacob Trouba also scored for the Ducks, and Dostal stopped 24 shots — many of them from point-blank range after Dallas pulled the goalie twice in the final minutes. The Ducks were 0-8-1 since a 4-1 win against Columbus on Dec. 20.
Roope Hintz scored for Dallas and Casey DeSmith had 22 saves. The Stars lost for the fourth time in six games (2-2-2).
Hintz’s snap shot from the slot with a man advantage pulled the Stars to 2-1 with 2:12 left in the third, but Trouba sealed the Ducks’ win with an empty-netter the length of the ice with 20.5 seconds remaining.
The Ducks had given up five goals or more in each of their last five games, and they played one of the NHL’s best teams without their three top point scorers in Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Cutter Gauthier, who sat out because of injury or illness.
But they rediscovered some of their early-season mojo, out-skating, out-hitting and out-hustling the Stars for much of the game and taking advantage of a delayed penalty call on Kyle Capobianco to score their first goal in the second period.
Dostal skated to the bench, giving the Ducks a man advantage. Mikael Granlund took a blue-line pass from Radko Gudas at the bottom of the right circle and found a wide-open Kreider, who beat DeSmith stick-side with a snap shot from the high slot for a 1-0 lead 3:36 into the period.
The Ducks appeared to push the lead to 2-0 when Alex Killorn took a spectacular backhand pass from Ryan Poehling and scored a shorthanded goal with 39.8 seconds left in the second, but Poehling crashed into DeSmith and into the net, and the goal was waved off because of interference.
With 7:58 left in the third, Sennecke gathered the rebound of Granlund’s shot that caromed off the end board and toward the left post. Sennecke shielded himself from a defender and backhanded an unassisted goal past DeSmith for a 2-0 lead.