Alex Chiasson scored his first NHL goal, Lane MacDermid netted his second in two games since being promoted from the minors, and Eric Nystrom had a short-handed goal for the Dallas Stars in a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves to help end Dallas' three-game skid. The Stars, whose four-year playoff drought is the longest in franchise history, are five points behind eighth-place St. Louis in the Western Conference. But Dallas would have to overtake four other teams that are separated by one point.
Andrew Cogliano scored for Anaheim, and Viktor Fasth stopped 22 shots in his third straight start. It was the third consecutive game between the teams in five days, following 4-0 and 5-2 wins by the Pacific Division-leading Ducks (25-8-5).
Nystrom and Chiasson scored less than 5 1-2 minutes apart to give Dallas a 3-1 lead with 48 seconds left in the first period.
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Fiddler lifted the puck out of the Dallas zone, while the Stars were short-handed, and Fasth came far out of his net in an attempt to poke it away from the oncoming Nystrom. But the six-year veteran got position on Corey Perry and flipped it over the goalie's outstretched stick and into a wide-open net at 13:54 of the first.
About a half-minute after the Ducks killed an interference penalty against Matt Beleskey, Chiasson converted a centering pass from Fiddler. It was the second NHL game for Chiasson.
MacDermid opened the scoring at 9:03 with a short backhander after Antoine Roussel found him cruising down the slot. The lead lasted just 18 seconds as Cogliano converted a centering pass from behind the net by David Steckel after the puck took a strange bounce off the end boards on a dump-in by Bryan Allen.
MacDermid sustained an upper-body injury on his first shift of the second period and didn't return.
The Stars and Ducks played their final game as division rivals, due to the realignment of the NHL in 2013-14.
NOTES: MacDermid's first NHL goal on Wednesday came on the 31st anniversary of his father Paul's first NHL goal. They are the second father-son duo to score their first goals on the same date. The other was John "Peanuts" O'Flaherty and son Gerry, who accomplished the feat on Nov. 3 in 1940 and 1972. ... With Jonas Hiller sitting out the game because of illness, the Ducks shifted their backup goalie. Jeff Deslauriers was at the end of the bench for the first 3:57, and Igor Bobkov replaced him. ... C Matthew Lombardi played his first game with Anaheim following Wednesday's trade from Phoenix. The Ducks are his fifth team in five seasons. ... The Ducks, who came in with the league's third-best power play, were 0 for 4. ... The Ducks outshot the Stars 28-25. Dallas hasn't outshot an opponent in nine games.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
