Stars finish as first wild card in West, defeat Ducks, EBUG

DALLAS --The Dallas Stars finished as the first wild card in the Western Conference with a 4-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at American Airlines Center on Friday.

"It's the playoffs, everyone will be ready," Stars forward Radek Faksa said. "That's what you play the whole season for. It's tough to get into the playoffs. So excited to play playoffs, and it's the best thing you can play in hockey -- the] Stanley Cup Playoffs."
Jason Robertson scored the game-winning goal from the right circle off Ducks defenseman Andrej Sustr's stick on the power play at 9:56 of the third period. The goal came against emergency backup goalie Thomas Hodges after John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz
[left the game with injuries
.
"When I got the call, that 'hey, you're actually going to have to go out' -- because it was 50-50 there for a little bit -- I was probably about as nervous as I've ever been," Hodges said. "I've never played in front of so many people. Experience of a lifetime, and something I'm going to remember for the rest of my life for sure."

Gibson made five saves before leaving with an upper-body injury. He was replaced at the start of the second period by Stolarz who allowed two goals on 10 shots before leaving with a lower-body injury. Hodges entered the game at the start of the third and made two saves on three shots.
Thomas Harley and Joel Hanley scored, and Jake Oettinger made 19 saves for Dallas (46-30-6), which won three of its last four regular-season games (3-0-1).
The Stars moved one point ahead of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card with the win, and clinched after the Predators lost 5-4 to the Arizona Coyotes. Dallas will face the Calgary Flames in the Western Conference First Round, beginning on Tuesday.
Max Comtois and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim (31-37-14), which ended the regular season with one win in its final five games.
Comtois gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 7:33 in the first period after the puck went off him and Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell before bouncing past Oettinger.
Harley tied it 1-1 at 3:13 in the second period with his first NHL goal. The defenseman skated down the slot and used Stars forward Denis Gurianov as a screen to score high glove side.
"A [heck] of a lot of relief," Harley said about scoring his first goal. "I didn't score all year, down in the [American Hockey League] and up here. It's definitely something that's been weighing on my mind. I don't usually celebrate like that, usually it's just like a little fist bump or something, but I was pumped up."
Hanley gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 5:45 on a slap shot from the high slot.
"I think as a team, we wanted to go into playoffs feeling good about ourselves," Hanley said. "I think a win will go a long way. Feeling good about ourselves and trying to get our game ramped up for the playoffs."
Terry tied it 2-2 at 15:41 after Adam Henrique found him with a no-look, between-the-legs backhand pass from behind the net.
"It's no secret that it was hard around here the last couple weeks," Terry said. "I think we've got a lot of young guys that really came into their own this year. We've got a lot of older guys that stepped up from previous years and found their games. It's just such a fun group to be part of. We really found something this year, and we're excited to go into next year with that confidence and a fresh start."

Vladislav Namestnikov scored an empty-net goal at 19:00 for the 4-2 final.
"We'll be ready for Tuesday," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "Tuesday night, it takes a whole other end of the spectrum. The intensity and everything else is going to ramp up. Have a little fun tonight. We got the win, we got 98 points. It's a [heck] of a year and we move on."
NOTES:Robertson ended the season on a six-game point streak (nine points; five goals; four assists). … Terry ended the season with a three-game point streak (three points; one goal, two assists) and 10 points (six goals, four assists) in nine games. … Harley scored his first NHL goal in his 34th career game. He was selected in the first round (No. 18) of the 2019 NHL Draft and has three career assists. … Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen had an assist to set a new career high in points (36 points; five goals, 31 assists).