Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
After being shutout in Game 3, the Anaheim Ducks put up two goals in the first period to quiet the Dallas Stars crowd at the American Airlines Center.
But that wasn’t nearly enough. Not even close.
The Stars scored four unanswered goals to stun the Ducks in Game 4 in a 4-2 Dallas victory to tie the first round, best-of-seven series at 2-2.
The series shifts back to Anaheim Friday night for a critical Game 5.
With the game knotted at 2-2 heading into the third period, Cody Eakin flew past a sprawling Rickard Rakell and fired a shot past rookie goalie Frederik Andersen to give the Stars their first lead of the game.
Alex Goligoski would add an insurance goal less than two minutes later to ice the game as Jonas Hiller would come in to replace Andersen.
Andersen would leave the game after giving up 4 goals on 25 shots.
Things looked bleak for the Stars early as the Ducks stormed out to the early lead.
Brian Allen kicked off the scoring with a monster slap shot from the point past Kari Lehtonen to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead 12:17 into the first period. Nearly six minutes later, Mathieu Perreault threw a shot on net that deflected off the back of Patrick Maroon past the line to put Anaheim up 2-0 after the first 20 minutes.
However, after the Ducks controlled the first period, the Stars flipped the script in the second.
The Stars opened the 2nd frame with a bang as Jamie Benn scored his third of the postseason. After winning the face off just outside the Anaheim zone, Benn knifed his way through the Ducks’ defense and flung the rubber past the stick side of Andersen.
Then after a bad line change by the Ducks, Vernon Fiddler found a hole on Andersen’s short side and tied the game at 2-2 as the fans in Dallas were brought to their feet.
Late in the second period, Dallas had a chance to take the lead with back-to-back penalties called against Anaheim, but the Ducks would kill both penalties.
The Stars out-shot the Ducks 16-3 in the second frame.
Just before the game, it was announced that Ducks’ captain Ryan Getzlaf would be scratched with an upper body injury. Getzlaf flew back to Anaheim for treatments before Game 5. He is listed as day-to-day. Rakell suited up in place of Getzlaf.
Teemu Selanne was a healthy scratch for Game 4 as he was replaced by Emerson Etem.
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