Dallas Stars (24-7-5) scored four goals in the first period and went on to defeat the Anaheim Ducks (20-13-2) 8-3 at the Honda Center on Friday night.
Oskar Back, Roope Hintz, Sam Steel, Thomas Harey, Jason Robertson, Adam Erne, and Ilya Lyubushkin scored for the Stars. Casey DeSmith made 23 saves.
Related: Casey DeSmith Is the Dallas Stars’ Secret Weapon
Ryan Poehling and Beckett Sennecke scored for the Ducks. Lukas Dostal made three saves on seven shots, and Petr Mrazek made 14 saves in relief.
Game Recap
The Stars scored a shorthanded goal at 2:37 of the first period to take the early 1-0 lead. Radek Faska created a turnover behind the Anaheim net, fed Back in front, and Back one-timed it home from the top of the crease.
Poehling tied the game up less than a minute later after picking up the rebound, kicking the puck to himself, and snapping the puck past DeSmith from the left side of the crease.
Hintz scored at 4:42 to make it three goals in the opening five minutes of the game. Robertson found Hintz in the slot with a nifty backhand pass from the corner, and Hintz sent a wrist shot top shelf, over the blocker of Dostal, for his 11th goal of the season.
Turnovers were the story of the game for the Ducks, and it cost them again at 12:41 as Steel doubled the Stars’ lead. After an Anaheim turnover in the Stars’ zone, Jamie Benn banked a pass off the boards to Steel, and Steel barrelled into the Ducks’ crease, scoring and knocking the net off in the process. The goal was reviewed but was upheld.
Harley capped off a wild 20 minutes with a snap shot in the slot to give the Stars a 4-1 lead. Mikael Granlund turned the puck over to Mikko Rantanen in the neutral zone, and Rantanen found Harley with his signature pass from the right boards.
The hot power play for the Stars continued with Robertson’s 21st goal of the season at 11:10 of the middle period. After collecting the puck at the right side of the crease, Robertson pulled the puck across the crease on his backhand and put it past the left pad of Mrazek to give the Stars a 5-1 lead.
After yet another Anaheim turnover, Hintz found Robertson in the slot, and Robertson sent a backhand bar-down for his second goal in exactly four minutes, with this one being scored at 15:10.
In his first game back from injury, Erne continued the onslaught with a wrist shot off a Harley rebound to push the lead to 7-1.
At 1:01 of the final period, Sennecke hammered home a one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Mason McTavish for his 11th goal of the season.
Lyubushkin scored his first goal of the season just 41 seconds later on a snap shot that picked the left corner to give the Stars an 8-2 lead.
Granlund shovelled home a rebound at 14:22 for his fifth of the season to bring the final score to 8-3.
The Ducks outshot the Stars 26-25 and went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Stars went 1-for-2.
Up Next
The Ducks host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night, and the Stars will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.
