Stars score four straight in second period to rally past Ducks

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars scored four straight goals in 6:32 in the second period to rally for a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Alexander Radulov, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg each had a goal and an assist for Dallas (3-1-0), which outshot Anaheim 51-25, including 30-4 in the second period. Tyler Seguin had two assists.
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Stars highlights]
"Today, the hockey god was on our side," Radulov said. "We've got to find a way to start the game when the puck drops."
Radulov is the fourth player in Dallas/Minnesota North Stars history to score in at least four straight games to start a season. He has nine points (four goals, five assists).

The Ducks (3-1-1), who took a 3-0 lead on Adam Henrique's power-play goal at 8:09 of the second, failed to match the best five-game start in their history. They went 3-0-2 on the way to a 12-0-4 start in 2006-07, when they won the Stanley Cup.
Anton Khudobin made 22 saves in his first start for the Stars, who signed him as a free agent July 1.
Anaheim goalie John Gibson made 40 saves on 44 shots through the second period. He was replaced at the start of the third by Ryan Miller, who made six saves.
"We hung our goaltender out to dry," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said of Gibson, who didn't allow more than two goals in his four previous games. "That's inexcusable for a hockey club to play and rely on and put a guy in that type of situation, under siege for 20 minutes. It started with the very first shift. They pushed their game up. They pushed the walls, and then we didn't win enough battles."

The 26-shot differential in the second period set a Dallas/Minnesota record.
Dallas coach Jim Montgomery switched his lines to begin the second. That included breaking up Benn, Seguin and Radulov, who combined to score nine of 12 Stars goals through three games. Blake Comeau moved up to play with Benn and Seguin, and Radulov dropped down to a line with Valeri Nichushkin and Jason Spezza.
"I think it put a little desperation in us," the first-year NHL coach said.
Jakob Silfverberg gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 9:01 of the first period on a shot from near the blue line.
Anaheim went ahead 2-0 at 13:28 of the first period on a tip-in by rookie Kiefer Sherwood for his first NHL goal.

Radulov started the comeback when he scored on the power play at 11:14 to cut the Ducks lead to 3-1.
Connor Carrick pulled the Stars within 3-2 at 13:52 with a wrist shot from the slot. Nine seconds later, Benn scored on a one-timer from the left face-off circle to tie it 3-3 at 14:01.
Klingberg put Dallas ahead 4-3 at 17:46 with a power-play goal.
Radek Faksa scored into an empty net with a shot from the Stars goal line to make it 5-3 at 18:32 of the third period.
Rookie forward Isac Lundestrom had an assist on the Sherwood goal for his first NHL point.
Seguin was attempting to become the first player in Stars/North Stars history with at least four points in three consecutive games. He had a goal and three assists in a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday after he had two goals and two assists in a 5-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 6.

They said it

"It's a good thing we locked him up for eight more years. He's a huge part of this team." -- Ducks forward Adam Henrique on goaltender John Gibson, who signed an eight-year contract extension Aug. 4
"If I could have a pillow, I would probably fall asleep." -- Stars goalie Anton Khudobin on facing four shots in the second period
"This is a character win. It shows that we're playing hard for each other. I just loved how hard we came back." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

Need to know

The three other players to open a season with at least a four-game goal streak in Stars/North Stars history are Dino Ciccarelli (six games, 1986-87), Tim Young (four games, 1976-77) and Mike Modano (four games, 1993-94). … Ducks forward Carter Rowney played 1:24 early in the first period and missed the rest of the game with an upper-body injury. … Dallas went 2-for-3 on the power play to improve to 6-for-11 this season, the best percentage in the NHL (54.5 percent).

What's next

Ducks: At the St. Louis Blues on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; FS-MW, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Stars: At the Ottawa Senators on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, FS-SW, NHL.TV)