Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists as the Dallas Stars earned a 6-2 road win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
The Stars, who won their fourth straight game, hold a two-point lead in the Central Division over both the Winnipeg Jets and the Colorado Avalanche.
Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist for Dallas, and Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson each had two assists. Christopher Tanev, Radek Faksa and Mason Marchment scored the Stars’ other goals.
Dallas was 3-for-5 on the power play. The team’s power-play unit is 12-for-34 (35.3 percent) over the past 12 games after the Stars were converting at a 21.6 percent rate through their first 53 games.
Jake Oettinger stopped 25 of 27 shots to continue his longstanding mastery over the Ducks. The Stars goalie has a .930 save percentage and a perfect 8-0-0 record in eight career games against Anaheim.
Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, and Alex Killorn scored a power-play marker. John Gibson stopped 30 of 36 shots.
The Ducks are 3-2-0 in their past five games, but they remain far off the playoff chase.
Just 1:14 into the game, Tanev’s point shot deflected off the stick of Anaheim forward Troy Terry and in for Tanev’s first goal in a Stars uniform. Dallas acquired the veteran defenseman on Feb. 28 as part of a three-team trade with the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils.
Hintz (on a power play) and Faksa both scored tip-in goals within the last three minutes of the first period. Dallas held a 3-0 lead and a 20-8 shots advantage over Anaheim at the first intermission.
Benn scored another power-play tally at 5:31 of the second period, but the Ducks quickly responded with Strome’s tip-in goal 35 seconds later.
Marchment benefited from a fortunate bounce 14:18 into the second period. Pavel Mintyukov slid to block Marchment’s shot, but the puck deflected off the Ducks defenseman and into the net for a 5-1 lead.
Killorn and Pavelski exchanged power-play goals in the third period. Anaheim finished 1-for-4 with the extra attacker.
Dallas is 12-2-0 in its last 14 games against Anaheim, including a sweep of this season’s three meetings.
–Field Level Media
