Hintz has 3 points, Stars cruise past Ducks for 4th straight win

ANAHEIM -- Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists for the Dallas Stars in a 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.

Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist, and Chris Tanev scored his first goal in his second game with the Stars (39-17-9), who have won four in a row to match their longest winning streak of the season. Miro Heiskanen had two assists to give him seven in the past three games, and Jake Oettinger made 26 saves.

The Stars have a two-point lead on the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central Division.

"We're in a real dogfight for playoff positioning right now," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We're trying to win the division. There's us, Winnipeg and Colorado, all are within two points of each other. Both those guys won [Friday] night, so there's a lot of pressure around that."

Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist, Alex Killorn scored, and John Gibson made 30 saves for the Ducks (23-37-3), who had won three of four.

“We didn't quit. We kept playing hard until the end," Strome said. "I'd say that's a positive take out of it, but a lot of lessons going against a team like that, that's just such a complete team."

The Stars built a 3-0 lead in the first period while outshooting the Ducks 20-8.

Tanev gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 1:14 of the first period when his wrist shot from the right point went off the stick of Anaheim forward Troy Terry and over the left shoulder of Gibson. It was Tanev’s first goal since being acquired from the Calgary Flames on Feb. 28.

"I like what I've seen," DeBoer said of Tanev. "He's got great feet, he can skate the puck out of trouble, he can also move it. He's hard to play against, he blocks shots, he's a great add for our group."

Hintz made it 2-0 at 17:19, tipping in a one-timer by Heiskanen on the power play, and Radek Faksa redirected a centering pass from Sam Steel at the top of the crease to make it 3-0 at 18:56.

“Every team that’s successful wins battles," Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. "They outrace teams for pucks, they win the battles and they generate chances, and we didn’t do that tonight. It doesn’t matter who we play. If we don’t do that, we don’t give ourselves a good chance at winning.”

Benn extended the lead to 4-0 on the power play at 5:31 of the second period with a one-timer from the right circle.

Strome cut it to 4-1 at 6:06, scoring for the second straight game on a deflection.

Mason Marchment extended it to 5-1 at 14:18 when his wrist shot hit the post and the puck banked off the back of Gibson and in.

Killorn cut it to 5-2 with a power-play goal at 4:13 of the third, scoring with a snap shot from the slot. 

Pavelski scored on the power play at 7:18 for the 6-2 final.

The Stars were 3-for-5 on the power play and are 5-for-8 in their past two games.

"It was a great start for sure," Heiskanen said. "It's great to get a 3-0 lead and keep going from that."

NOTES: Dallas is 10-1-0 in its past 11 games against Anaheim. … Oettinger is 8-0-0 against the Ducks in his career. … Heiskanen became the third Stars defenseman in the past 20 years with six points in a two-game span (also had four assists in a 7-6 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday), joining John Klingberg (Jan. 29-31, 2015) and Sergei Zubov (Dec. 10-12, 2007). … Hintz passed 300 NHL points (301; 143 goals, 158 assists). … Anaheim forward Ben Meyers, who was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, had two shots in 13:39. … Terry (upper body) and forward Mason McTavish (lower body) returned from injuries for the Ducks. Terry had no shots on goal in 17:03; McTavish had two shots and played 17:37. … Killorn has four goals in the past five games after scoring seven in his first 38.