Stars cruise past depleted Ducks, 6-2

In ANaheim, the visiting Dallas Stars hit for three goals in the opening stanza on Friday night as they eased past the Ducks, 6-2.

Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in the win..

Dallas improved to 39-17-9 off their fourth straight win.

“We’re in a real dogfight for playoff positioning right now,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’re trying to win the division. There’s us, Winnipeg and Colorado, all are within two points of each other. Both those guys won [Friday] night, so there’s a lot of pressure around that.”

Chris Tanev potted his first goal with the Stars since being acquired on a trade. He scored at 1:14 of the opening stanza for the 1-0 lead.

“I like what I’ve seen,” DeBoer said. “He’s got great feet, he can skate the puck out of trouble, he can also move it. He’s hard to play against, he blocks shots, he’s a great add for our group.”

Roope Hintz pushed the lead to 2-0 at 17:19, scorijng off a tip in.

“Every team that’s successful wins battles,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “They outrace teams for pucks, they win the battles and they generate chances, and we didn’t do that tonight. It doesn’t matter who we play. If we don’t do that, we don’t give ourselves a good chance at winning.”

Radek Faksa scored off a deflection at 18:56 for a 3-0 lead to Dallas headed to the middle frame.

The Ducks dropped to 23-37-3“We didn’t quit. We kept playing hard until the end,” Strome said. “I’d say that’s a positive take out of it, but a lot of lessons going against a team like that, that’s just such a complete team.”