Ducks Score 5 Unanswered To Top Stars 6-3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars both used goalies who were making their NHL debut. Jack Campbell had plenty of time to prepare mentally for his assignment, while Frederik Andersen had very little advance notice.
Andersen replaced Jonas Hiller at the start of the second period with the Ducks trailing 3-1, stopping all 24 shots he faced while his teammates rallied for a 6-3 victory Sunday.
"I knew I was going in when we were coming off the ice after the period, so I had 15 minutes to get ready," said Andersen, who was promoted from Norfolk of the AHL on Friday because of Viktor Fasth's lower-body injury.
"When you feel good in practice, you don't have to be nervous at all when you go in. I'm kind of a calm guy, so I didn't want to do anything differently out there than I usually do in the leagues that I've played in. It felt nice to get that first shot, although it took a while. And after that first save, it felt like I got settled in."
Hiller, who was off to the best start of his seven-year career with a 4-0 record and 1.44 goals-against average, faced 12 shots before he was benched.
"I think it calmed things down a little bit," said Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf, who had a goal and three assists. "I mean, it wasn't that Hillsy played terrible. He just got a couple of bad bounces, and sometimes you just need that change. Then Freddie came in and swallowed every puck his way and enabled us to get back in that game."
Emerson Etem got his first career short-handed goal late in the second period after Corey Perry scored twice to tie the game, helping the Ducks extend the best start in franchise history to 7-1. The defending Pacific Division champions tied a club record with their seventh straight victory following a 6-1 loss at Colorado on opening night.
"I think we learned a lot last year in that shortened season," Getzlaf said. "We knew that we had to bring it right away, or otherwise we were going to be behind the 8-ball. So we're preparing the same way, and we're starting the right way."
Ryan Garbutt, Brenden Dillon and Shawn Horcoff scored during the final 10 minutes of the first period for Dallas, and Campbell made 41 saves.
The Ducks responded to the goaltending change just 54 seconds after the intermission, when Perry scored on a redirection of Getzlaf's centering pass. Perry, who won the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP in 2010-11 after scoring a career-high 50 goals, got the equalizer at 11:48 of the second on a deflection of defenseman Cam Fowler's long wrist shot while Horcoff was serving a hooking penalty.
"If you're going to go on the road and you're going to lead a game 3-1 — and then take some of the penalties we took — you are inviting some trouble," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "To come out for the start of the second period and give them a goal right off the bat on what I felt was a bad line change by our team was pretty disappointing."
The Ducks were killing off an elbowing penalty against Daniel Winnik when Andrew Cogliano set up Etem in the low slot at 18:55 of the second with a pass from the right boards. Getzlaf and Mathieu Perreault helped put it away with third-period goals.
The Ducks, who came in a league-worst 1 for 23 on the power play and 0 for 18 at home, opened the scoring the first time they had the man advantage. Garbutt was serving a penalty for kneeing Perreault in the neutral zone when Teemu Selanne scored his 678th career goal and third this season at 2:38 of the first.
"It was good to see us get a couple on the power play because that's going to make winning so much easier," said the 43-year-old Selanne, who extended his goal streak to three games. "Tonight everybody took more responsibility in doing the things that we can do better. It was a good character win, coming back from two goals down."
Anaheim forward Dustin Penner was knocked out briefly at 5:32 of the second period after absorbing a hard, open-ice hit from Garbutt a split-second after passing the puck in the Dallas zone. Penner was helped to the dressing room, but checked out OK.
The Ducks will be in Toronto on Tuesday night to begin an eight-game trip, all against Eastern Conference teams.
NOTES: It was the first time two goalies debuted in the same game since Oct. 12, 2005, when Yann Danis backstopped Montreal to a 2-0 win over Michael Garnett and the Atlanta Thrashers. ... The Ducks have started 5-0 at home for the first time. They won a franchise-record 13 straight at Honda Center last season after losing their lockout-delayed home opener. ... Campbell was the 248th goalie Selanne has scored against. ... This is the first time Selanne has had goals in three straight games since the 2011 Western Conference quarterfinals, when he connected in each of the first four against Nashville. ... Anaheim's penalty-killing unit had not been scored upon in 18 short-handed situations at home this season until Horcoff's goal.
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