Stars and Ducks back to sqare one
DALLAS Cody Eakin and Alex Goligoski scored 1:22 apart on Dallas’s first two shots in the third period and the Stars beat the top-seeded Anaheim Ducks, 4-2, on Wednesday in Game 4 of their National Hockey League best-ofseven series that is all even now.
Even without captain Ryan Getzlaf, a surprise late scratch with an upperbody injury, and healthy scratch Teemu Selanne, the Ducks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
But the Stars, who got physical at home after a pair of one-goal losses in Anaheim to start the series, dominated the rest of the way.
Game 5 is Friday night in Anaheim, and the best-of-seven series returns Sunday to the American Airlines Center for Game 6.
Stars captain Jaime Benn scored unassisted, his third goal of the series, off a faceoff 27 seconds into the second period. Vernon Fiddler managed to get the puck in a small gap between the post and rookie goalie Frederick Andersen to tie it at 2 at 6:33 of the second.
Eakin hit the post in the opening minute of the third period, but skated the length of the ice for the go-ahead goal with 13:38 left. After starting straight down the middle, Eakin went left around a diving defender and keep skating toward the net. He knocked in the puck just before his stick was ripped from his hands by Hampus Lindholm.
The raucous crowd was still in a frenzy when Fiddler had a backhanded pass to Goligoski, for a wrister that made it 4-2.
Andersen was then pulled in favour of Jonas Hiller, the veteran goalie who won 29 games during the Ducks’ best regular season in franchise history before a late slump that left him on the bench until that point. Hiller f aced just one shot in his 10 1/2 minutes.
Kari Lehtonen, who was 0-4 in post-season games before stopping 37 shots in Dallas’s 3-0 win on Monday, had 21 saves Wednesday night.
Getzlaf took a puck in the face in the series opener and played the last two games with a half-cage to protect the stitches just below his mouth. It wasn’t clear if the upperbody injury was related to that, or was a new issue for the captain.