"The special teams were the difference on their side tonight," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "They capitalized on their power plays and we didn't."

Anaheim scored twice with the man advantage. Ryan Getzlaf whistled a shot in the net from the left circle midway through the second period on Anaheim's first power play of the game to break a 1-1 tie.

Teemu Selanne knocked home a rebound off the endboards early in the third period with Anaheim on a five-on-three to make it a 3-1 game. That was the Ducks' second chance with the man-advantage.

That came after the Stars had five chances on the power play and scored just a second after one of them had expired.

But those missed power play chances weren't the only squandered opportunities. The Stars had a lot of good looks at Ducks goalie J-S Giguere, who deserves a lot of credit. He stopped 40 of 42 shots in the game.

"Giguere was the best player on the ice," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.

"Giguere was really good, and we just couldn't get enough past him," Stars center Brad Richards said.

The Stars had a few looks at open nets, but couldn't get the handle on the puck or fired wide on some instances. Chances, but no goals.

"We just need to turn all those scoring chances into goals," said forward Steve Ott.

There were a lot of chances on both sides and some top notch saves from both Giguere and Stars goalie Marty Turco in what was a fast paced, highly entertaining hockey game.

But on this night, Giguere and the Ducks came out on top. They were fighting for lives and it showed. Their desperation level was high, but the Stars made it hard on them.

Anaheim pushed hard in the first, had some great chances on Turco but when the first intermission rolled a round it was a 1-1 hockey game thanks to Mattias Norstrom's first career playoff goal.

But the Stars misfired on a couple of power play chances in the second, the Ducks scored on those two power play chances and they had control of the game on the scoreboard and never relinquished it. That kept the Stars from closing out the series.

"We would have loved to have closed it out tonight but we gave them too many chances," Turco said. "We'll just have to do it at home. They are a dangerous team and we definitely don't take anything for granted. We are making plays and had our chances tonight, but it didn't go our way. You have two teams that are hungry and very desperate and the one that who buries their chances is going to win."

The Ducks lived to fight another day.

"It wasn't always pretty, but we did the job and found a way to win. Giguere said. "It was do or die. I wanted to leave it all on the table."

And that is the approach the Stars said they'll need to take heading into Game 6 Sunday.

"They were a very desperate team and obviously when you are down 3-1 there's no room for error," said Richards. "We have to get our mentality the same way.

"We can't be thinking in the back of our minds that we have a couple more chances. We have to match the desperation and that's how you finish off a playoff series."

And the Stars will get their next chance to do that on Sunday.

• Shortly after Stars center Mike Ribeiro couldn't control the puck while looking at on open net on a Dallas power play, Ducks forward Corey Perry scores off the rush on a shot from the right circle to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game.
   
• After the Stars miss on their fourth and fifth power play chances in the game, the Ducks score on their first power play chance of the game midway through the second period when Ryan Getzlaf scores from the left circle to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
   
• With Matt Niskanen and Trevor Daley in the penalty box, Teemu Selanne scores on a five-on-three power play to take a 3-1 lead early in the third period.