DALLAS — The Ducks have found a consistent offensive groove this season, and they’re overwhelming some of their opponents.
Leo Carlsson’s short-handed goal midway through the third period proved to be the winner as the sizzling Ducks rallied to beat the Dallas Stars, 7-5, on Thursday night. They scored seven goals for the second straight game and the fourth time already this season.
Carlsson scored on a slap shot 10:38 into the third period to give the Ducks a 6-4 lead. Troy Terry had an assist on the goal.
Chris Kreider scored twice and Cutter Gauthier and Carlsson each had a goal and an assist to extend their point streaks to eight games for the Ducks. Olen Zellweger and Ian Moore added goals and Mason McTavish scored an empty-netter for the Ducks (9-3-1), who won their fifth straight and for the seventh time in the past eight games. Lukas Dostal finished with 21 saves.
Wyatt Johnston had two goals and an assist, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin also scored for Dallas, which lost for the third time in four games. Miro Heiskanen had four assists and Jake Oettinger made 18 saves.
The Ducks, who came in leading the NHL in goals per game at 3.92, trailed 2-0 after the first period but found their game in the second, when they outscored the Stars 4-1.
Kreider scored his fifth power-play goal of the season to cut it to 2-1 at 1:16 of the second, and Moore followed with his first NHL goal in his 10th game, the rookie redirecting a feed from Ryan Poehling to tie it 2-2 at 2:48.
Seguin got behind the defense and scored his first goal against the Ducks in his 16-year NHL career to move the Stars back ahead 3-2 at 8:19.
Gauthier answered with his NHL-leading 11th goal of the season, a wrist shot from the right circle to tie it 3-3 at 14:07.
Zellweger scored his first goal of the season at the tail end of a power play to give the Ducks a 4-3 lead at 17:05.
Kreider scored his ninth goal in nine games this season on a deflection in front of the net 16 seconds into the third period for a 5-3 Ducks lead, but Rantanen made the Stars 3 for 3 on the power play when he scored at 1:50 to cut it to 5-4.
Carlsson scored on a short-handed 2-on-1 break to make it 6-4 at 9:22.
Hintz, who had missed the past five games with an injury, scored on a deflection to cut it to 6-5 at 16:39, but McTavish scored into the vacated net with 1:53 left to complete the Ducks’ latest outburst and bring Dallas’ seven-game points streak to and end.
The Stars started strong. Johnston scored on a one-timer from the slot while on a power play to give the Stars a 1-0 lead at 5:49 of the first period.
Dallas went back on the power play and Johnston scored on a tip to stretch the lead to 2-0 at 16:18.
UP NEXT
The Ducks play at the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday at 7 p.m.