Stars move into first wild card in West, defeat Ducks, EBUG

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars moved into the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with a 4-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Jason Robertson scored the game-winning goal from the right circle off Ducks defenseman Andrej Sustr’s stick on the power play at 9:56 of the third period. The goal came against emergency backup goalie Thomas Hodges after John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz left the game with injuries. 

Gibson made five saves before leaving with an upper-body injury. He was replaced at the start of the second period by Stolarz who allowed two goals on 10 shots before leaving with a lower-body injury. Hodges entered the game at the start of the third period and made two saves on three shots.

Thomas Harley and Joel Hanley scored, and Jake Oettinger made 19 saves for Dallas (46-30-6), which ended the regular season 3-0-1. The Stars moved one point ahead of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card spot. The final seeding will be determined at the conclusion of the Predators’ game against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday. 

Max Comtois and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim (31-37-14), which ended the regular season with one win in its final five games.

Comtois gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 7:33 in the first period after the puck went off him and Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell before bouncing past Oettinger.

Harley tied the game 1-1 at 3:13 in the second period with his first NHL goal. The defenseman skated down the slot and used Stars forward Denis Gurianov as a screen to score high glove side.

Hanley made it 2-1 at 5:45 on a shot from the high slot.

Terry tied it 2-2 at 15:41 after Adam Henrique found him with a pass from behind the net.

Vladislav Namestnikov scored into the empty net at 19:00 for the 4-2 final.