Dallas Stars 1, Anaheim Ducks 3 FINAL

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) _ After a lackluster first period by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Sergei Fedorov and Petr Sykora rewarded goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere for keeping them in the game.

Giguere made 36 saves Monday night, leading the Ducks to a 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars after his teammates failed to get a shot on net through the first 12{ minutes of the game and were outshot 13-2 in the opening period.

Fedorov and Sykora scored 19 seconds apart early in the second period and assisted on Mike Leclerc's empty-netter with 34 seconds remaining.

``They got off to a good start, but it wasn't necessarily because they were flying. It was us just making poor decisions with the puck and not allowing ourselves to play with speed,'' Leclerc said. ``But then we started generating some team speed, and that's when we started to play well. We were making some passes, getting open and putting the puck in good spots.''

Bill Guerin scored for the Stars, who have dropped two straight for the first time since a five-game losing streak Nov. 30-Dec. 10. Guerin's 24th goal came on a breakaway with 13:55 remaining. Giguere stopped the shot between his pads _ but the puck fell at his feet and trickled across the goal line.

The Ducks snapped a scoreless duel at 3:18 of the second period, just eight seconds after Dallas' Rob DiMaio was sent off for high-sticking.

Fedorov was credited with his 20th goal when he carried the puck through right circle and attempted a cross-ice pass to Sykora that caromed off defenseman Teppo Numminen's skate and past goalie Marty Turco. Moments later, Leclerc went on a rush with Sykora and found him at the left of the net with another cross-ice feed for his 18th goal.

``When you feel you're dominating the game and you don't have much to show for it, that's the mental part of the game where we have to not let it bother us and get to us and veer off from the game plan,'' Dallas captain Mike Modano said. ``Bad breaks usually seem to end up in our net an awful lot this year _ like bad deflections off skates. That's been the case many times this year.''

Leclerc's goal was his first in four games since returning from offseason knee surgery.

``It was frustrating enough just not playing,'' Leclerc said. ``But then you're watching the guys struggling, so it wasn't much fun coming to the rink for them or for me. Now I think we're showing what our team's made of. It's crunch time now, and every team is playing their hardest hockey, but we're stepping up and starting to win some games.''

Turco, making his 32nd consecutive start _ and 12th straight with a broken left foot _ made 22 saves. The injury occurred on Jan. 19, when Turco was struck by a shot from teammate Philippe Boucher during a morning skate on Jan. 19 in Vancouver. Since the injury, he is 7-3-2 with two shutouts and has allowed 26 goals.

``It hasn't really been an issue for me, and it wasn't again tonight,'' Turco said. ``When the game's on, it's not a problem.''

The Stars have used Turco in all but two games. The two-time All-Star already has eclipsed the total number of minutes he played last season, when he missed 18 games with a sprained right ankle.

Turco can break Grant Fuhr's record of 79 games played if he appears in each of Dallas' final 23 contests, and also could shatter the league mark of 4,511 minutes that Marc Denis set last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

``That broken foot is a non-factor. It's been a non-factor since it happened,'' coach Dave Tippett said. ``It's nothing that's kept him out of a practice, out of a game, out of the All-Star game, nothing. He's been very solid for us for the last three months now.''