VIDEO: Ducks Left Seeing Stars

Photo: USA Today

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks continued their road trip in Dallas against the Stars. Anthony Stolarz got the start in net against Jake Oettinger.

Recap

The Ducks got an early power in this contest. Mason McTavish beat Oettinger, but hit the cross bar. Anaheim didn’t convert on the power play.

The Stars would strike first on a goal by Jason Robertson. He got to the puck behind the net and threw it in front. The puck deflected off Stolarz’s stick and into the back of the Ducks net.

Towards the end of the period, Simon Benoit laid a big check on Robertson. Mason Marchment took exception and went at Benoit and the two scraped for a brief moment. Marchment got an extra two minutes for instigating. The Ducks finished the period on the power play.

The Ducks didn’t convert on the power play. The Stars then got a power play about 6 minutes into the period and they converted. Robertson scored his second of the night through a screen. A few minutes later Joel Kiviranta got to a rebound and made it 3-0.

The teams traded power plays before the period was over, but neither team scored with the man advantage.

Dallas got a power play early in the third period and Robertson scored to earn a hat trick. He scored in a similar fashion to his second goal and almost in the same spot on the ice as well.

The Stars then appeared to score again, but the refs waived off the goal as there was contact with Stolarz caused by a Dallas forward.

Dallas would score one more time to make it 5-0 on a goal by Wyatt Johnston.

With a minutes to go, Jamie Benn broke in on Stolarz and Cam Fowler interrupted his scoring chance, but the refs awarded a penalty shot. Stolarz made the stop on the attempt by Benn. The game remained 5-0, which ended up being the final score.

Analysis:

The Ducks didn’t have a poor start to this game as they outshot the Stars 12-10 and only found themselves down 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. Dallas then took over in the second period building a 3-0 lead and didn’t look back after that. And the puck possession numbers looked ugly for Anaheim, especially after the first period.

Anaheim wasn’t able to contain Robertson, who has been on fire this season. He scored a hat trick and leads the league in goal scoring(22). The special teams play was once again a factor which hurt the Ducks. Anaheim had three power play chances and couldn’t cash in on any of them. Dallas had four power plays and were able to score twice. The Stars also won the face-off battles by a 2-to-1 margin.

The Ducks are going to have to quickly flush this game down the toilet. They have back-to-back early games against Minnesota and Winnipeg this weekend to finish the road trip.

Team Stats/Notes:

Isac Lundestrom left the game with an upper body injury at the end of the second period. He took a shot off of his right hand from Robertson.

John Klingberg (lower-body) was placed on the IR.

What’s Next?

The Ducks continue the road trip on Saturday in Minnesota at 11 AM.

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December 1st, 2022