ANAHEIM, Calif. Demarcus Lawrence Navy Blue Jersey . -- Ryan Getzlaf hates missing hockey games, and the Anaheim Ducks just arent the same when their captain isnt there. After one agonizing playoff game away, Getzlaf came roaring back to put the Ducks in command of their series with Dallas. Getzlaf had a goal and two assists in his return from injury, and the Ducks scored four power-play goals in a 6-2 victory over the Stars on Friday night to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round series. Getzlaf became the Ducks career post-season scoring leader with a dynamic performance that betrayed no problems from his undisclosed upper-body injury -- except maybe, he acknowledged, on a horrendous first-period giveaway to Jamie Benn for Dallas first goal. "I thought I got better as the game went on," Getzlaf said. "I felt more and more comfortable. The crowd was unbelievable. Everything was fired right up. They give us so much energy." Game 6 is Sunday in Dallas. The Ducks captain, who got hit in the face with a slap shot in the series opener, now has 66 playoff points, surpassing Teemu Selannes 64 in franchise history. Corey Perry also had a goal and two assists for the top-seeded Ducks, who broke open a tight game early in the third period and confidently moved to the brink of the second round after dropping the last two games in Dallas. Getzlaf and Perry led the way, putting Anaheim one win away from just its second playoff series victory since its only Stanley Cup title in 2007. "Every time you get your captain back, its going to make you feel better," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Its like your big brother is back. Guys felt a little more secure, and he came out and had a great game." Nick Bonino, Mathieu Perreault, Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell also scored for Anaheim, which set a franchise record for playoff power-play goals. The Ducks chased Kari Lehtonen with five goals on their first 21 shots. Shawn Horcoff also scored for the Stars, who couldnt score on seven power-play chances. Despite the lopsided final score, the Stars regretted a missed opportunity. "The second period, we just utterly dominated," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "We hit post. We hit crossbar. Spent the whole time down in their end. Its tough. We lost the special-teams battle, which was the difference tonight." Frederik Andersen made 34 saves after getting pulled from Game 4, but the Ducks gave him plenty of offensive cushion in a hard-hitting, whistle-filled game. Anaheim scored three goals in the first seven minutes of the third period and set a club playoff record for power-play goals, scoring at least one in every period. Selanne also returned to the Ducks lineup after coach Bruce Boudreau kept him out of Game 4 as a healthy scratch, infuriating most of the Anaheim fan base. The home team has won every game in this bad-tempered, physical series, and it got even uglier when Dallas forward Ryan Garbutt got a game misconduct in the first period of Game 5 for spearing Perry in the groin, leaving the Ducks top goal-scorer on the ice in agony during a line change. "I was just coming back to the bench and got careless with my stick," Garbutt said. "It was deliberate," Boudreau countered. "It wasnt an accident. It was pretty dirty." After Boninos opening goal, Anaheim had a five-minute power play after Garbutts spearing penalty. After Getzlaf handed Benn his third goal of the series, the Ducks went back ahead 26 seconds later when Francois Beauchemins slap shot deflected off Rakell, the 20-year-old Swedish rookie appearing in just his second career playoff game. Horcoff trimmed Anaheims lead with his first goal of the series on a loose puck in the slot. After the Ducks barely thwarted a prolonged Dallas push to close the second period, Silfverberg got his first goal of the series early in the third with a one-timer off a behind-the-net pass from Cogliano. "I thought our second period was pretty good," Benn said. "We came in here, tried to regroup and come out with the same effort, but they jumped on us early. We took a stupid penalty, and that was it." Getzlaf chased Lehtonen after Perry forced a turnover by Brenden Dillon. Perry then got the Ducks fourth power-play goal 2:19 later after Trevor Daley left him alone in front of Tim Thomas, the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy winner with Boston. NOTES: The Ducks scratched D Hampus Lindholm with a stiff neck and dressed D Luca Sbisa for the first time in the series. Boudreau praised Sbisas performance. ... Dillon suited up for the Stars for the first time in the series after getting hurt late in the regular season. Dallas scratched D Patrik Nemeth, who got injured in Game 4. .... Rakell, who has 22 games of regular-season NHL experience, became the first player in Ducks history to score his first career goal in the post-season. Anthony Hitchens Navy Blue Jersey . Kehls goal came against the run of play in the 58th minute when he swept the ball over Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann from around 25 metres with his left foot. "We didnt really have any shots on goal. Zack Martin Womens Jersey . Barrichello, who moved to IndyCar this season after a record 325 races in Formula One the past 19 years, topped 200 mph during his rookie oval test Monday at the high-banked 1 1/2-mile Texas Motor Speedway.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I love the column, keep up the good work! It doesnt make me more sympathetic to bad calls by the refs, but it sure explains a lot! On Tuesday, Zach Bogosian and Lars Eller just went off to the Sin Bin together - Bogosian for interference and Eller for embellishment. How come the refs always call two penalties? I see it a lot - hooking and diving, tripping and diving. If someone dives, how can the other player be penalized too? Just doesnt add up to me. Keep up the good work! David ReimerGo Jets Go! --- Can you please clarify? These are two that I witnessed, but Im sure there are other folks around the league wondering the same. 1) Semin gets clotheslined by Ovechkin. Ovie gets a penalty but Semin gets the embellishment.2) PHX-CAR on Sunday afternoon. Pivotal time of game. Ruutu gets tripped. Power play gets nullified by embellishment call. From a fans perspective, this is how it should be played out: If there is a penalty, it should matter not how a guy reacts to the penalty. If there is no penalty called and someone embellishes to try to draw one, call embellishment. Just dont call both. 99% of the time, no one would be flopping around if they didnt feel victimized. Perhaps if there were a few embellishment penalties called when there is no other penalty, embellishment would work its way out of the game. Either there is a penalty or a faked one. Make a choice and go with it. I just hate it when someone is victimized and the refs feel like the player didnt react gracefully enough and it wipes out the PP chance. These, as Ive seen, can be game-changing events and shouldnt happen. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Your column rocks! - Fraser Van Asch David and Fraser: (My nephew, David Fraser lives in Sarnia, Ontario!) I can understand fan confusion, even to the point of frustration when a legitimate infraction worthy of a power play is nullified with a subsequent embellishment penalty. While Davids point seems logical (if there is a penalty it should matter not how a guy reacts) individual player integrity and ultimately that of the game must be upheld. As a Referee I view embellishment as an outward act of "cheating" and I always found it personally offensive whenever a player tried to fool me or bring the wrath of hometown fans against me and my colleagues. I always maintained a mental list of players whose uniforms were often wetter on the outside from splashing around than on the inside from perspiration. It was a list a player had to skate his way off through honest play. There wasnt a penalty for embellishment in those days so it was important for the Ref to have his radar up when a known offender hit the ice. Dino Ciccarelli flopped on me four times in the same corner of Joe Louis Arena in a span of 15 seconds one game.Demarcus Lawrence Jersey. . He looked like a pin-ball bouncing up as quickly as he went down. Needless to say he didnt draw a penalty in spite of his efforts or through the deafening roar from the partisan Red Wing fans! Oh, how I wish we had a diving penalty back then! The cheat-to-win attitude has evolved to include an ever expanding list of embellishers. It really detracts from the integrity of the game and has become a negative component that needs to be eradicated. There are two ways to do that; the Refs must continue to enforce embellishment with a firm standard and assess a standalone penalty whenever the opportunity is presented. Second to that, offenders names need to be published when the Hockey Operation Department flags them under Rule 64.3 (Fines and Suspensions) whether a penalty was called on the ice or not. For those unaware of Rule 64.3: "Regardless if a minor penalty for diving/embellishment is called, Hockey Operations will review game videos and assess fines to players who dive or embellish a fall or a reaction, or who feign injury. The first such incident during the season will result in a warning letter being sent to the player. The second such incident will result in a one thousand dollar ($1,000) fine. For a third such incident in the season, the player shall be suspended for one game, pending a telephone conversation with the Director of Hockey Operations. For subsequent violations in the same season, the players suspension shall double (i.e. first suspension - one game, second suspension - two games, third suspension - four games, etc.)" This rule certainly has some teeth but we never know if or when it is being enforced. I watched each of the infractions that David and Fraser offered as examples in their question. - Zach Bogosian reached with a free-hand to restrain Lars Eller and the Montreal forward folded backward to the ice like a $3.00 suitcase. - David Schlemko put a hook on Tuomo Ruttus hands that resulted in a jump in the air with both skates. If the pond wasnt frozen there would have been a big splash upon Ruttus entry! - Alex Ovechkin really clocked Alexander Semin in the chin with high hands. The Canes would have a legitimate beef with this embellishment as Semin was trying to duck at the moment of impact and not draw a penalty. From the Refs angle he thought otherwise. The bottom line is that the Referees have their instructions and their radar is honed in on embellishment. Im good with that and hope that before too long players will fight to stay on their feet for fear of nullifying a power play opportunity. New rule suggestion: Make the embellishment a double minor penalty. Maybe then all players uniforms would be wetter on the inside from perspiration. After all, its supposed to be a mans game in the NHL. ' ' '
