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Ducks prevail in shootout; Stars clinch

Mar 31, 2008 - 4:56 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Teemu Selanne and Chris Kunitz scored goals in the shootout to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday.

Defenseman Mathieu Schneider scored a pair of goals as the Ducks moved closer to clinching home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Despite the loss, Dallas clinched a spot in the playoffs with three games remaining in the regular season. Mike Modano and Niklas Hagman scored in regulation for the Stars.

"We really wanted the regulation win. It would have done a lot of things for this group," Dallas goaltender Marty Turco said. "But we didn't, so we've go to just keep battling, playing our game and find ways to be a little bit better."

After Brad Richards gave the Stars a 1-0 lead in the shootout, Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped Modano and Jere Lehtinen to seal the victory.

The Ducks, who hold fourth place in the Western Conference with a 45-27-8 mark, opened a five-point lead on the Stars in what could be a preview of a potential playoff matchup.

"We feel fortunate enough to get the extra point in a shootout. Now it's down to two (games to play)," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "The bottom line is we have two more games next weekend. We've got a week to prepare. We'll start our preparation on Tuesday and see where that takes us."

Schneider recorded his 15th career multi-goal game and now has 15 points in his last 22 games.

"Schneider is an offensive defenseman," Carlyle said. "He has the ability to jump into the play and contribute on the back end."

Ryan Getzlaf assisting on both tallies in his first game back after missing three contests with a strained shoulder.

"I felt good. I felt strong," Getzlaf said. "Everything went as planned. It was a big win for us, as well as me getting back in there and feeling comfortable again."

Turco, who finished with 30 saves, kept his team in the game early with several acrobatic saves. The Stars entered with the league's best penalty-killing unit and were tested three times in the opening period. On the their third power-play opportunity of the evening, Schneider broke the scoreless tie.

Scott Niedermayer picked up the puck at the left point and sent a pass to Getzlaf at the top of the left circle.

Getzlaf fired a cross-ice pass to Schneider, who took a slap shot from 50 feet that beat Turco to his stick side for the score. Kunitz, stationed in front of Turco, was originally thought to have tipped in the shot, but the scoring later was changed to credit the goal to Schneider.

After killing off another Ducks' power play early in the second period, Dallas knotted the score 1-1 on Modano's tally at 6:45 of the second.

Captain Brenden Morrow brought the puck down the right side and sent a backhand pass across to Modano at the Anaheim blue line. Modano skated into the left circle and drilled one past Ducks netminder Giguere's stick side for his 20th of the season.

"It was a good pass by Lehtinen, and I was able to get a good angle and get it off quick," Modano said. "I don't think Giguere was really kind of settled and ready for it. I think it was more surprise than anything else."

Modano, the all-time leading American-born goal scorer, now has 16 20-goal seasons.

Anaheim took a 2-1 lead at 14:54 of the second on Schneider's second goal of the game.

Selanne outfought Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas for the puck along the boards behind the Dallas net and dished the puck to Getzlaf low in the left circle. Getzlaf sent a soft pass to Schneider cutting through the right slot and the veteran defenseman whipped the puck past Turco for his 12th of the season.

"I saw the play developing and jumped into the play," Schneider said. "When I saw Getzy get the puck, I yelled to him. Getz gave me a perfect pass, and it was an easy tap-in for me."

Turco saw Schneider approaching and had to make a choice.

"He (Schneider) was all alone at the hash marks. It was a breakdown, and had I known I would've went down, but then Ryan (Getzlaf) probably would've jammed it in my feet," Turco said. "It was just one of those things that can't happen at our end. They're the difference makers."

Dallas tied the score at 2-2 at the 1:53 mark of the third period on Hagman's 27th goal of the season.

Ducks defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron was attempting a pass from behind the Anaheim net to the left side, but Toby Petersen got his stick on the puck. The puck dribbled to Hagman in the right circle, where the Finnish left wing fired a shot past a surprised Giguere.

Giguere stopped 23 shots in his first appearance since sitting out four games with back spasms.

"I knew it was going to be a tough game," he said. "I felt comfortable out there tonight. We wanted that extra point tonight. We want to get that home-ice advantage in the first round. It's huge."

Dallas coach Dave Tippett felt that his team had run out of gas by Sunday's game.

"I think our group was a little fatigued after three games in about three and a half days. We battled through that and Marty cleared out a lot of hiccups along the way," Tippett said. "We found a way to get a point. We were a tired group today. You could tell we didn't have a lot left in the tank.

"The way the game started, we were down under, but we found a way to get a point, so we'll take it."