Wednesday, November 27, 2013
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Stars score 3 in 53 seconds in win over Ducks

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[November 27, 2013]  DALLAS (AP) — Talk about a quick 1-2-3 for the Dallas Stars.

Cody Eakin, Stephane Robidas and Ryan Garbutt produced a three-goal flurry in a 53-second span of the third period, and the Stars beat the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Tuesday night for their first home win in more than month.

"We were just still talking on the bench about, 'OK, it's a tie game. Let's get this thing (under control), stay the course, do that,' and next it's 3-2," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It just went boom, boom. They got the goal, and the crowd got into it, and then the rest is history."

After giving up a goal to Nick Bonino in the final seconds of the second period that put the Ducks ahead 2-1, Dallas wiped out that deficit with the fastest three-goal stretch in the NHL since January 2012.

"You're thinking that we fought hard to tie it up and want to go into the third period and try to play a 20-minute period of the win, and now we're going to chase the game again as soon as we come out," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "But we were able to turn it, I can tell you a nice story now. Otherwise, we might have blamed the game on that late goal."


Eakin's sixth goal of the season tied it 2-2 with 14:35 left. Only 25 seconds later, Robidas was between the circles when he scored his fourth of the season.

Garbutt then gathered a loose puck and scored with a backhanded swipe with 13:42 left to make it 4-2. He didn't realize how quickly the trio of goals had come.

"But it was pretty cool," said Garbutt, who also had two assists.

Fans in the building were suddenly in a frenzy as Boudreau finally called timeout.

"We might have had to have a little bottle of NoDoz after the first period, but we woke them up in the third," Ruff said.

Roussel was in the crease when he netted his second goal with just under 8 minutes left. Hiller quickly argued with the referee to no avail, trying to get an interference call.

Dan Ellis stopped 28 shots, winning for only the second time in seven games. Dallas had been 0-2-2 at home since a 5-1 victory over Calgary on Oct. 24.


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Emerson Etem, Nick Bonino and Dustin Penner scored for the Ducks, who are 10-4-3 in their last 17 games. Penner's tally was a power-play goal with 6½ minutes left.

"It does happen quickly," Ducks center Andrew Cogliano said. "When momentum turns and it starts going the other way, it's really hard to stop it."

The Stars played the first of three straight home games. Next is Friday night against the Central Division-leading Chicago Blackhawks, who have an NHL-best 38 points — one more than Anaheim and St. Louis.

This was the second of three meetings this season for the former Pacific Division rivals who used to play six times a season. It was the only trip to Dallas for the Ducks, who won 6-3 at home on Oct. 20 and will host the Stars again on Feb. 1.

Hiller, who faced 32 shots, gave up three goals on 12 shots against the Stars in the previous matchup before he was pulled from the game.

Bonino's seventh of the season came with 36 seconds left in the second period. He took a pass from Cogliano, and the puck went off his skate before he used his stick to score from the right side of the net for a 2-1 lead.

Etem scored from in front 6:06 into the game to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.

Roussel tied it when the puck caromed in off his skate with 6:47 left in the second period. Officials reviewed the goal before ruling that it wasn't kicked into the net to the left of Hiller after a pass from Vernon Fiddler.

"That was a team win," Roussel said. "We're very excited about that win because everybody was involved."

NOTES: The three-goal spurt was the fastest in the NHL since Montreal scored three in 50 seconds in the third period of a 7-3 win over Winnipeg on Jan. 4, 2012. ... Stars D Sergei Gonchar played his 1,200th NHL game, joining Alexei Kovalev and Sergei Federov as the only Russian-born players to reach that mark. ... Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf had the primary assist on Penner's goal. Getzlaf has points in the last eight games he has played (seven goals, five assists). ... 41-year-old LW Ray Whitney was back in the Stars lineup after he missed five games with a groin injury. He played in his 1,279th NHL game.

[Associated Press; STEPHEN HAWKINS, AP Sports Writer]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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