ANAHEIM — It was a Friday Night Fight at Honda Center between two of the West’s best teams, but the Ducks never answered the bell against the Dallas Stars, who coasted to an 8-3 victory.
The Ducks remained in a points tie for first place in the Pacific Division, but the Vegas Golden Knights now have three games in hand. Dallas has gone 11-2-1 in its past 14 decisions and trails only the Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division as well as the league standings overall.
Ryan Poehling, Beckett Sennecke and Mikael Granlund each scored for the hosts, who have lost four of their past five games. Lukáš Dostál made only a brief appearance before being relieved by Petr Mrázek in his first action since Nov. 30 (lower-body injury). Each netminder ceded four goals.
Arcadia product Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist to pace Dallas, which improved to an NHL-best 13-2-4 on the road. Roope Hintz and Thomas Harley both chipped in a goal and an assist. Oskar Bäck, Adam Erne and former Ducks Sam Steel and Ilya Lyubushkin each scored a goal. Radek Faksa, Miro Heiskanen and Mikko Rantanen all contributed two assists apiece. Casey DeSmith made 23 saves.
“It was ugly. It was ugly,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I give them credit, they can make plays, and they certainly had their way with us all night long.”
Less than five minutes into the contest, it was 2-1 in favor of the visitors thanks to three combined goals in just over two minutes. By the time the first intermission rolled around, Dallas had extended its edge to 4-1.
An overeager Robertson put the Stars shorthanded with a penalty in the deepest part of the offensive zone, but Dallas opened the scoring down a man, the first shorty surrendered by the Ducks this season.
Leo Carlsson’s neutral-zone giveaway led to a dump-in, after which Faksa disrupted the exchange between Dostál and Jacob Trouba. He picked Trouba’s pocket behind the net and found Bäck in front to open the scoring 2:37 after the puck dropped.
Fifty-five seconds later, forecheck pressure led to captain Radko Gudas’ shot, creating a rebound for Poehling. He kicked the puck across an outstretched DeSmith and popped it home for his second goal as a Duck.
Just 1:10 after that, Hintz put the Stars back in front for good after Robertson’s saucer pass set up his bullet from the slot.
Steel took a chip off the wall and drove all the way from the red line to the front of the net. He was pushed from behind by Chris Kreider and knocked the net off its moorings, crashing into the twine just after the puck crossed the line. His goal was upheld upon official review at 12:41.
Granlund showed that Finns can also serve up a pizza when his turnover smack in the middle of the neutral zone went to his countryman Rantanen. He gained the zone and waited for the trailing Harley, who glided into the inner part of the right circle for a goal that chased Dostál from the game just 14:19 after it began.
“They know, and we know, and you know,” Quenneville said. “When the plays are tough, you want to make sure that there’s an awareness, sometimes when you want to remind them or not, you use your judgment and your gut will answer that for you.”
Dallas slathered on three more goals in the second period, at the 11:10, 15:10 and 18:30 marks. In all, the Stars scored seven goals on 15 shots through 40 minutes.
First, it was Dallas’ big three – Heiskanen, Rantanen and Robertson – connecting on the power play. Robertson found a weakly deflected puck in the slot and transitioned from backhand to forehand between his legs for a man-advantage marker.
Robertson would add another jaw-dropping goal, at even strength, four minutes later. Pavel Mintyukov’s feeble backhand pass was devoured by Hintz, who found Robertson gracefully entering the zone. He skated across the hashmarks and further victimized Mintyukov before lifting a backhand for his 22nd goal of 2025-26, tying him for third in the NHL.
“He’s got terrific play selection, especially given time and space around the net. Tonight, he showed that elite side of him,” Quenneville said of Robertson. “But we gave him too much room and we were too friendly.”
Erne made it 7-1 at the second intermission after a Harley point shot was tipped by Steel onto Erne’s blade before he pivoted into a goal.
A mere 61 seconds into the third period, the Ducks clawed back a score with Sennecke’s one-timer off the rush, but his rookie-leading 11th goal of the campaign gave little cause for celebration.
Even that tempered excitement proved ephemeral as 41 seconds afterward, Lyubushkin beat Mrázek short side from a sharp angle for his first goal this season to make good on the two-point conversion for Dallas.
With 13:19 to play, the Ducks finally caught a break when Matt Duchene’s power-play goal was disallowed upon review for not having completely crossed the goal line.
Jackson LaCombe’s wrist shot from high in the left circle was tipped high and then pushed in low by Granlund for an academic goal with 5:40 remaining, his fifth since signing over the summer.
The Ducks will play their next six games in Southern California, five at home, beginning with rolling out the welcome mat for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.
“That’s the beauty of this league, we get to turn the page,” Gudas said. “We want to play a strong game, and, definitely, these games are not what we want to show our fans here.”