Recap: Vaakanainen Scores First NHL Goal in OT Loss to Stars

Urho Vaakanainen scored his first NHL goal and John Gibson made 40 saves, but Thomas Harley scored the game-winner in overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 4-3 victory over the Ducks tonight at American Airlines Center.

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Despite grabbing a point for the second straight game, the loss dropped Anaheim to 16-30-2 (34 points) on the season and denied the club's bid at consecutive wins for the first time this month. 

Vaakanainen, Jakob Silfverberg and Troy Terry scored for the Ducks. Isac Lundestrom collected two assists. Gibson kept his team in the game all night with a strong performance in net, especially so in the third period, turning aside 40-of-44 Dallas shots. 

Matt Duchene, Craig Smith and Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars, who extended their point streak to four games and improved to 29-13-6 (64 points) on the season - third in the Central Division. Jake Oettinger made 18 saves.

The Stars raced out to an early lead with the night's first goal just 2:22 after puck drop, capitalizing on a Ducks defensive zone turnover with a short-side snipe by Duchene off left wing.

Duchene has 43 points in 47 games this season, his first with Dallas, good for third among team leaders. The nephew of Anaheim assistant coach Newell Brown, Duchene is now 13 points shy of 800 for his NHL career, 22nd among active players.

Mason Marchment and Tyler Seguin both collected their 20th assists of the season on the play.

Later in the opening frame, Troy Terry twice came within inches of giving Anaheim the tying goal, first on a breakaway move to the backhand that Oettinger kicked aside with a left pad save and then on a snap shot from the right circle that rung the post and stayed out.

Instead it would be more of any unlikely source evening the score, one at long last getting his well-earned first NHL goal. 

Vaakanainen had prior scored what he thought to be his first goal in the NHL on three separate occasions only to have that goal nullified on review or later awarded to a teammate, but this time the luck was on the friendly Finn's side.

Just seconds after the Stars had hit the post themselves on one side of the ice, with half the building and players alike initially thinking it had gone in, Vaakanainen raced the other way and fired a low shot on net just before skating into the corner of the offensive zone. The shot seemed to confuse the All-Star netminder, squeaking between his legs from the sharp angle to tie the game at one.

Now in his third year with the Ducks, and second full season, Vaakanainen has already set career highs in games played (40), assists (eight) and points (nine). He ranks second on the team in plus/minus (+6) this season, trailing only his frequent defensive partner Radko Gudas.

Silfverberg's assist was his 200th in the NHL. His 191 as a Duck are eighth-most in franchise history.

Anaheim then temporarily went ahead early in the second, with Terry's third great scoring chance of the game doing the trick. As Henrique hounded Stars defenseman and former Duck Jani Hakanpaa on the breakout, the versatile veteran forward eventually was able to poke the puck free along the wall, quickly turning and delivering a centering pass for Terry in front. Terry then hesitated for just a moment to freeze the netminder before suddenly snapping a shot under Oettinger's glove to give the Ducks the lead.

Terry has found the scoresheet in four straight games (1-5=6) and owns 11 points in his last 10 appearances. He's now one point shy of Frank Vatrano (34) for the team lead this season.

With the assist, Henrique continued a hot stretch himself, now with points in three straight and eight points in his last six games. Henrique also became the third Duck to reach 30 points this season. 

Dallas would answer with one of the stranger goals of the season, and one that took didn't appear to go until further review. With the Stars on the attack in the offensive zone, Craig Smith threw a rebound chance on net from in tight after Gibson had turned aside a wraparound. Initially, it appeared Gibson had denied this one too, flashing the glove while stretched across the goal line. After a closer look though, the NHL's Situation Room determined the puck had completely crossed the line while in the goaltender's glove, evening the score at two.

Much like the second though, Anaheim reclaimed the lead in the early moments of the third, this time on the very first shift. After the center-ice faceoff, the line of Silfverberg, Lundestrom and Mason McTavish got in on the forecheck and caused a turnover behind the net, allowing Lundestrom to find his countryman alone in front for a one-timer past Oettinger.

Silfverberg has three goals and four points in his last two games. Lundestrom's two assists on the night marked his first multi-point performance of the season.

But again much like the second, Dallas would once again have an answer, this time with Heiskanen finishing a cross-ice pass from Harley. 

Harley would then score the game-winner in the first minute of OT, beating Gibson over the shoulder on a 2-on-1 rush.

The Ducks conclude a two-game road trip Saturday night in Minnesota.