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Ducks Down Dallas


The last time the Anaheim Mighty Ducks were in Reunion Arena, they beat up the Dallas Stars but lost the game. On Friday, the Mighty Ducks beat the Stars on the scoreboard.

Teemu Selanne scored three goals in Anaheim's 4-2 victory, the first for the Mighty Ducks in Dallas since 1993.

There were no incidents in Anaheim's first visit to Dallas since an Oct. 2 game in which three Mighty Ducks drew suspensions for actions against Stars players. The actions of Anaheim's Ruslan Salei, Pascal Trepanier and Jim McKenzie earned that trio a total of 19 games in league suspensions.

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Game summary

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  • The focus was on the ice Friday as Selanne broke a 2-2 tie with 10:33 remaining, tucking a rebound under goalie Ed Belfour. The Finnish star also scored the tying goal in the second period, and added his 11th goal of the season into an empty net with 44 seconds to go.

    Anaheim rallied from a two-goal first-period deficit to improve to 2-12-1 overall at Reunion Arena.

    "We haven't had a lot of success in this building, so this was huge," said Selanne, who broke a streak of five games without a goal. "We were down two, but we didn't give up and it paid off. I hadn't been scoring for a long time so it was nice to get some damage done."

    Selanne missed three games from Nov. 15-19 because of a slight groin pull, and had been trying to regain his scoring touch over the next two games, both Mighty Ducks losses.

    "Coming back from an injury, it takes time," Selanne said.

    Mighty Ducks coach Crai Hartsburg said one of the keys to the victory was killing all three Stars penalties.

    "We're a young team, not at the maturity level of Dallas," Hartsburg said. "It's big to come out of here with two points. We killed each of their power plays at critical times."

    The defending Stanley Cup champion Stars are 1-3-2 in their last seven games.

    "Today we were outworked and outbattled except for 10 minutes in the first period and 10 in the third," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We had a lot of people who didn't compete very hard today right from the start."

    Dallas' Brett Hull scored his 594th career goal. Hull is 12th on the career goal list, 16 behind his father, Bobby, who is No. 8.

    Dallas jumped to a 2-0 first-period lead behind even-strength goals from Hull and Jon Sim.

    Hull scored his eighth of the season on a blast from the right circle at 3:15. Sim added his third on a rebound at 7:12.

    Anaheim tied it with a two-goal second period.

    The Mighty Ducks got their first at 11:35 when former Dallas center Tony Hrkac converted Stu Grimson's centering pass for Hrkac's first goal for the Ducks and first of the season. The assist was Grimson's first in 115 games.

    Selanne tied it at 2 at 16:51 off a solo rush.

    The previous game between the two teams in Dallas had led to speculation that the Stars might be out for revenge. But there were only 11 penalties called in Friday's game.

    Dallas' Mike Modano sustained a sprained ligament in his neck and a slight concussion after a hit from behind by Ruslan Salei, earning a 10-game suspension for Salei.

    Joe Nieuwendyk of the Stars wasn't seriously injured on a hard check into the end boards by Pascal Trepanier, but Trepanier was suspended for five games.

    Dallas' Darryl Sydor fractured an eye socket when Jim McKenzie punched Sydor repeatedly from behind, resulting in a four-game suspension for McKenzie.

    The Mighty Ducks took a 3-0 victory from the Stars in Anaheim on Oct. 8, but all three of the Anaheim skaters in question were under suspension and did not play.

    Salei played Friday, but McKenzie and Trepanier were scratched from the lineup by coach Craig Hartsburg.

    Salei said he tried to contact Modano to apologize for the incident, but was unsuccessful.

    "I was prepared for a tough game," Salei said. "I wa ready for whatever happened. I want to put it behind me."

    ©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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