"The reality check came in tonight about how hard this series is going to be," said Stars coach Dave Tippett.

In other words, for this night at least, the Ducks were back to being the Ducks and that means it's a dogfight. The Stars helped the Ducks cause with some miscues and penalties, but give credit to the Ducks.

"We had to play our best game of the series and we did," said Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle. "Are we going to have to play better? For sure."

J-S Giguere was sharp in goal. Chris Pronger seemed to be back in top form after two lackluster games, scoring a pair of power play goals. Ryan Getzlaf got on the score sheet.

Role players stepped up. Brad May got moved up to the top line and played well. Todd Marchant got moved to the checking line in place of the injured Rob Niedermayer and scored a goal.

The Ducks juggled things things on defense, putting Pronger and Scott Niedermayer together on the blue line.

"It's something we've done before," said Carlyle. "We've tried to match up Pronger and Niedermayer against teams' best lines."

The Ducks were better defensively, even though they gave up 33 shots in the game.

But the bottom line is the Ducks were simply better as a team in the game. They weren't just going after the big hits and then ending up out of position. They did a better job of keeping the puck away from Stars goalie Marty Turco, whose puckhandling can frustrate a forecheck.

"The difference in the game tonight, for us, was we able to establish a forecheck," Carlyle said. "We got inside and we had some offensive zone time with the puck. We haven't had that consistently in the first two games."

The Ducks had only 15 shots, but they had some prime chances. They scored on three straight shots in the first period to build their early commanding lead.  Marchant from point blank range after Travis Moen knocked Mattias Norstrom off the puck behind the Dallas net. Getzlaf one-on-one against Turco after a Stars turnover. And then a  Pronger blast on a Duck power play.

Although the Stars scored twice on the power play in the third period to make a game of it, the special teams battle went to the Ducks on this night. They got the big special teams play at the right time. They scored two power play goals to extend their 2-0 to lead to 4-0.

And then their penalty kill, which has been raked for eight goals in this series, came up with a big kill on a 4:00 Dallas power play with the Stars riding a wave of momentum in the third period after cutting the Ducks' lead to 4-2 with a pair of Brenden Morrow power play goals.

"That was a big penalty kill," Carlyle said. "That could have changed the momentum. ... That was a big opportunity for them. This place was rocking, there was a lot of energy in the building."

But the energy dipped after that power play expired. Overall, the glitches early in the game and some penalty problems in the second period that led to Anaheim's fourth goal sealed the Stars' fate on this night.

"I think we got what we deserved," Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas said. "This is a good wake-up call for us. Next game, we need to be ready to compete from the beginning."

A 4-0 deficit is tough to overcome. The Stars did make a game of it in the third and had the Ducks on their heels for a while.

"There were 45 minutes where we played well,'' Morrow said. "We battled hard, outshot them and maybe outchanced them. The third period, we got some momentum and we'll look to use that on Thursday.''

And Thursday's game will be another chance for the Stars to take control of the series.

"We didn't expect to win four in a row. We still have the lead here," said Stars center Mike Ribeiro. "We need to refocus, regain our energy and come back and play are better game overall, a better first period and win on Thursday."

Said Tippett: "I am disappointed in losing. Very disappointed in losing. We're in the fix it mode now. We're not in the angry mode. Let's get after it. Things we have to correct, things we have to do better. There's no use whining or crying about it. Let's get to work."

• After Travis Moen knocked Mattias Norstrom off a puck behind the net, Moen set up Todd Marchant for a goal at 6:39 of the first period. That gave Anaheim the lead for the first time in the series.
   
• A defensive zone turnover by the Stars leads to a Ryan Getzlaf goal giving Anaheim a two-goal lead.
   
• Stars forward Niklas Hagman just misses on a breakaway chance that would have made it a 2-1 game, takes a penalty moments later and the Ducks then score on their first power play chance of the game to make it 3-0, taking the crowd completely out of the game.
   
• Brenden Morrow's two power play goals 1:39 apart in the third period cut Anaheim's lead to 4-2, bring the crowd to life and give the Stars a big shot of momentum, but the Ducks much maligned penalty kill  comes up big on a 4:00 Dallas power play and stops the Stars' momentum and thwarts the Dallas rally.