Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Kari Lehtonen made 37 saves for his first playoff shutout, and the Dallas Stars grabbed a crucial 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of this Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Jamie Benn, Ryan Garbutt and Valeri Nichushkin all scored for the Stars, who dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Anaheim.
"I think tonight when the puck was coming at me, it always seemed to hit something or bounce past me," said Lehtonen. "In the two other games, I felt like all those kind of plays seemed to go the other way. Some nights it goes that way no matter what you try to do. I've learned that my game doesn't get better if I start trying to over-do things and be more aggressive."
Frederik Andersen made 19 stops in the loss for the Ducks, who lost defenseman Stephan Robidas to a fractured right leg in the game.
"Tomorrow is a new day," said Ducks forward Patrick Maroon. "We'll practice and get ready to come back Wednesday."
Robidas was injured early in the second period during a collision with Garbutt and was taken to a local hospital. The team later said that he suffered a fractured leg and will likely miss the rest of the playoffs.
He was making his return to Dallas, which traded him to Anaheim in March. At the time of the trade, he was recovering from a fracture in the same leg -- a bit lower than this one -- that kept him off the ice for close to four months.
"It's a huge loss because he was playing great," said Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau. "And of course, I think all the guys on the bench felt extremely bad for him. Here's your teammate who's just fought his way back from a broken leg."
Game 4 is Wednesday in Dallas.
The first period nearly passed without a score, but the Stars were able to get one past Andersen with 35 seconds left on a rush play.
Skating down the left wing, Trevor Daley chipped a pass down to the circle for Shawn Horcoff, who fired a shot on net that saw the rebound go to the right side and Benn slam it home for his second of the playoffs.
In the second period, the Stars took a 2-0 lead at 17:15 after Tyler Seguin skated down the middle and left a drop pass at the right point for Nichushkin, who shot it between the defender's legs and Andersen's pads.
The Stars put the game away at 7:52 of the third when Garbutt whacked in a third chance in front of the net for his second goal of the season.
Game Notes
It's Dallas' first playoff win since a victory over Detroit in the Stars' run to the Western Conference finals in 2008 ... This is the third playoff series between these two clubs. Each side has won once ... Anaheim was 0-for-6 on the power play, while Dallas failed on its three chances on the man advantage.
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