Ducks Ride Big 1st Period To 4-2 Victory Over Stars
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and an assist and the NHL's lowest-scoring team blasted the highest-scoring team for four goals in the first period of the Anaheim Ducks' 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday night.
After Silfverberg and Sami Vatanen scored 31 seconds apart in the opening minutes, Hampus Lindholm and Corey Perry scored 33 seconds apart later in the first period while the Ducks shredded the Stars' defense and goalie Kari Lehtonen in a 12:32 stretch.
Frederik Andersen made 22 saves for the Ducks, who have won seven of 10.
Mattias Janmark scored a short-handed goal and captain Jamie Benn had a power-play goal for the Stars. Dallas has lost six straight road games for the first time in five years.
Lehtonen stopped 31 shots and Dallas opened a three-game California trip with its fifth loss in six games overall. After having the previous five days off, Dallas fell out of first place in the Central Division with its loss and the Chicago Blackhawks' win over Toronto.
The Stars have one road win in nine tries since Dec. 3. They play at San Jose on Saturday night.
Ducks fans were still arriving when Silfverberg redirected Josh Manson's shot for his fifth goal 3:05 in. Vatanen added his sixth moments later, ending a 19-game goal drought since Nov. 25 for the offensive-minded defenseman.
Lindholm snapped a 31-game goal drought late in the first period on a power play, and Perry slammed home his 17th of the season shortly afterward. Anaheim entered the night with 12 fewer goals than the NHL's next-lowest-scoring team. It scored four goals in a period for the first time all season and got four in a first period for the first time since Dec. 17, 2013.
Janmark scored early in the second period on a breakaway set up by Perry's poor pass.
Benn improbably hadn't scored a road goal since Nov. 28. He ended the Ducks' franchise-record streak of 34 consecutive penalties killed with the 26th goal of his spectacular season midway through the third.
NOTES: Ales Hemsky returned to Dallas' lineup after a two-week absence with a lower-body injury. F Colton Sceviour was a healthy scratch, missing his first game since Dec. 15. ... The Ducks' previous franchise record was 32 straight penalty kills in November 1998. They hadn't allowed a power-play goal since Dec. 27. ... Jiri Sekac returned to Anaheim's lineup and Chris Stewart was scratched. ... Angels LHP C.J. Wilson attended the game.
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