Leason has goal, 2 assists to lead Ducks past Stars

DALLAS -- Brett Leason had a goal and two assists for the Anaheim Ducks in a 4-2 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Monday.

“It was one of those games where the puck was getting on my stick today. I was able to kind of slow the game down and make some plays,” Leason said. “I think we were playing quick. Our neutral zone looked fast and our quick outs looked perfect pretty much. Overall, we’re playing fast, playing hard and keeping it simple.”

Cutter Gauthier had a goal and an assist, and Olen Zellweger and Jackson LaCombe scored for Anaheim (7-8-2), which has won three of its past four games (3-1-0). Lukas Dostal made 34 saves.

“I think the tracking was good. I was battling for the puck. The guys did a great job on the rebounds. They boxed out guys. I saw the puck from the blue line and that was the key for me,” Dostal said.

Esa Lindell and Matt Duchene scored for Dallas (11-6-0), which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Casey DeSmith made 24 saves.

Zellweger scored 56 seconds into the first period to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead on a shot from inside the blue line.

“Kind of a fluky first goal, kind of like a sinker in baseball. The whole first period was played in the neutral zone. Our execution was off, we weren’t really able to get them into their own end where we’re a dangerous team,” Duchene said. “Good little reminder for us, sometimes we have a habit of playing to the perceived level of [who] we’re going to play instead of playing the way we have been playing. Our intensity and hunger right off the bat wasn’t there and it bit us.”

Leason made it 2-0 at 5:44 when he scored on a wrist shot from the right face-off dot off the rush.

Gauthier extended the lead to 3-0 at 7:39 of the second period on a power-play goal from the slot.

“This type of game is going to happen to everybody in the league at some point. Over an 82-game schedule, you’re going to have a game where you’re either off, flat or get behind and can’t come back,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s over with, there’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s all about our response.”

Lindell cut the lead to 3-1 at 3:31 of the third, finishing off a passing play with a one-timer from the high slot.

“You have to prepare every night. [Our] pre-scout said they’re going to come out hard, play physical and compete. We didn’t match that tonight,” Lindell said. “We’ve got to bounce back. When we ramp up the compete, it’s going to help our game and results.”

Duchene made it 3-2 at 12:08 when he drove to the net and deked to his backhand, lifting it over Dostal’s pad.

“We’re going to clean up the mistakes we made. We had some turnovers there in the second,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “But the template was there as far as playing north of the puck, getting the puck back on the cycle. We’re going to get some more shots to build a little bit more strength in our offensive numbers, but I thought it was a real solid game.”

LaCombe scored at 14:32 on a backhand in front after a feed from Leason for the 4-2 final.

Anaheim forward Brock McGinn left the game with a lower-body injury 5:55 into the second period. He slid into the boards awkwardly after being tripped by Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley.