The Anaheim Mighty Duck beat Dallas Stars' netminder Marty Turco at 1:44 of overtime to lift his underdog squad to a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars and a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal.
Game 3 will be played Monday in Anaheim.
"I had to get to the puck first because it was pretty far away," Leclerc said. "I reached out for it, and you kind of know where the net is. I just wanted to go high so I threw it at the net, and it went in."
Anaheim Mighty Ducks forward Rob Niedermayer celebrates his game-tying goal against goalie Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars on Saturday. (AP Photo)
Leclerc wasn't the Ducks' only hero. Rob Niedermayer scored with 1:09 left in the third for the Ducks to force the extra time. Adam Oates tallied the other marker for Anaheim.
"It's been quite a roll. I don't think anybody would have predicted it," Niedermayer said. "At the same time, things could be very different with a different bounce here and a different bounce there."
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The Ducks, the West's seventh-seed, are now 6-0 in the playoffs, 4-0 in overtime. They won this game in considerably faster fashion than Game 1, which went into five overtimes and was the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history.
"I don't know what it is about this group," Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "We just hang around and hang around and we don't go away. You give yourself a chance."
Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 29 shots for the Mighty Ducks.
Brenden Morrow and Mike Modano scored for the Stars. Marty Turco made 24 saves in defeat.
Leclerc's winner came after the Stars couldn't control the puck in the corner. It slid out to Leclerc, who wristed a shot that beat Turco just under the cross-bar on the glove side.
"It's frustrating. Sometimes as good as you want to be, the game doesn't let you be good," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "They get a goal off a skate. That's the way it goes."
The Stars looked to be on their way to tying the series as the third period wound down before Niedermayer struck.
Petr Sykora floated a shot on goal from the left circle that Turco stopped, but the rebound popped loose in front. Niedermayer got to the loose puck and tapped a soft backhanded shot in front that hit Stu Barnes' skate and caromed through Turco's legs into the net for the tying goal.
The Stars took a 2-1 lead at 8:39 of the second period on Modano' fifth tally of the playoffs. Modano took a pass from Scott Young and one-timed a shot from just behind the left circle that beat Giguere through the five-hole. The netminder was heavily screened on the play and could not shut the pads in time.
Dallas had a chance to extend its lead late in the second period, but Giguere was able to make a save. Jason Arnott skated in on a shorthanded breakaway and tried to beat Giguere with a backhand, but the goaltender slid across the net to make a pad save.
Paul Kariya had a great opportunity to tie the game with just over 10 minutes left in the third, but his backhand wraparound attempt was stopped by Turco's left pad.
The Stars had a 4-on-2 break moments later, but Jere Lehtinen's cross-ice pass skipped off Modano's stick and the puck rolled behind the net.
Anaheim was awarded a power play with 5:10 remaining in regulation after Kariya was pulled down, but the Ducks could not score despite a great chance. Niedermayer whistled a shot from the right point that Turco stopped with his glove and deflected off the outside of the right post.
Anaheim got on the board first as Oates scored on a 5-on-3 advantage with 9:43 left in the opening period. Oates controlled the puck at the left side of the net, where he skated in on Turco and wristed a shot that hit the netminder's glove and found its way into the net for the 1-0 lead.
Oates, who scored his second of the post-season, recorded the Ducks' first power-play tally of the playoffs.
Dallas tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play score with just 1.2 seconds left in the first stanza. Modano took a slap shot from the high slot that Giguere was able to stop, but the goaltender could not control the rebound. The puck slid through Giguere's pads to his left and Morrow tapped in the loose rebound for his second goal of the playoffs.
"I thought we did enough to win, but bad bounces and bad calls have a snowball effect," Modano said. "I thought we outchanced them and outplayed them in every aspect of the game, but we haven't been lucky."
with files from CP Online and Sports Network
