Ducks Keep Head Above Water As Stars Fall 4-2 in Game 3

The Ducks took the ice in Dallas to a sold out covered in Black crowd that was more than pumped and ready to see their Stars win game three and prepare for a sweep of the Anaheim Ducks. When the Ducks arrived in Dallas for Game three the entirety of the momentum was in Dallas’ end of the spectrum, but I must say after scoring three straight goals and keeping it to a shutout until the final 15 minutes of the third makes the momentum factor in the series just about even again.

Travis Moen and Todd Marchant would begin the scoring frenzy for the Ducks in the first period when Moen fed a pass to Marchant as he crashed the net for a Ducks 1-0 lead at 6:39 in the period. At 10:09 in the first Ryan Getzlaf, who had remained basically nameless thus far for the series in the stats category, nailed a puck home on Marty Turco for a 2-0 lead. At 14:31 of the first Chris Pronger proved to Dallas that the Ducks too can score on the man advantage with a beautiful one timer goal.

The scoring for Anaheim would not end here as Pronger, at 5:34 of the second, would extend his total to two goals and the Ducks total to four. The rest of the second would be a grinding battle to seize control of the rest of the game but blood wouldn’t be struck by Dallas until the third.

At 5:43 of the third Brenden Morrow on the Dallas power play is finally able to put a Dallas puck past Giguere giving the Stars a small hope of coming back. At 7:22 more hope would be added as Morrow would tally his second for the game and the Stars. The Stars crowd would come back to life in the third. The remainder of the period would be a back and forth battle and would keep the score the same with a final score of Anaheim 4 and Dallas 2. Dallas still leads the series 2 games to 1 and Game four is in Dallas on Thursday.

For the Ducks to win game four they must play as driven as they did tonight otherwise being back in Anaheim for game five wont matter. The key to Anaheim now seizing control of the series lies in the hands of the leaders like Ryan Getzlaf. If he drifts back into his lack of scoring the Ducks will surely be golfing and surfing soon.