Over the course of the 2013-14 season, the Dallas Stars have forged an identity as a team that is very tough to beat when they play on their home ice at the American Airlines Center. That trend has carried over into the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

During the regular season, the Stars posted a 23-11-7 record on home ice. Now, after trailing the Anaheim Ducks two games to none in their first round playoff series, the Stars have roared back with a pair of rousing wins at home to even the series.

Coming off a 3-0 shutout in Game Three and playing without top center Ryan Getzlaf, the Ducks forged a 2-0 lead last night only to see Dallas roar back for four unanswered goals.

Jamie Benn, who briefly had to leave the game but returned to the ice to play a stellar game, got the comeback started. Vernon Fiddler scored from a tough angle to tie the game before the second intermission. Cody Eakin took advantage of some offensive recklessness by Anaheim to score a counterattacking goal off the rush and put Dallas ahead to stay in the third period. Alex Goligoski added some insurance, making Anaheim pay for another defensive gaffe.

Kari Lehtonen got better and better as the game progressed. He only had to make 21 saves in this game, after posting a 37-save shutout in Game Three -- but a few of them were testers in close. Lehtonen, who assisted on Eakin's game winning goal along with Antoine Roussel, even tried to join Ron Hextall among the ranks of goaltenders who have scored a goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs. With a two-goal lead, Lehtonen's late-game shot toward the vacated net at the other side went a bit wide and became an icing.

The game turned increasingly chippy and nasty in the latter stages of Game Four; basically, par for the course in a playoff series.

Corey Perry, who took a boarding minor in the latter stages of the third period, ended up getting taken off for the rest of the game when Roussel mixed it up with the former Hart Trophy winner and the two dropped the gloves. The Dallas agitator even got the better of their ensuing tussle.

Thereafter, two players on each side got the locker room early on 10-minute misconducts. Dallas actually lost a would-be empty net goal by Jamie Benn because of a scrum behind the play where no one could hear the whistle in the cacophonous arena but it had no bearing on the final score.

Anaheim pulled Frederik Andersen (21 saves) after the fourth Dallas goal. Only the Fiddler goal was an outright bad one for the young goaltender, but his all-around play was not as good in the two games in Dallas as it was in the opening two matches in Anaheim.

Future Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne was a healthy scratch for the Ducks last night. Although the Finnish Flash's role has greatly diminished in his final NHL season, scratching one of the game's all-time greats had to be a tough decision for Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau.

With the win last night, the Stars have assured themselves of a Game 6 in the series. However, in order to win the series, Dallas will still need to win at least one game in Anaheim.

During the regular season, Dallas was a mediocre 17-20-4 on the road. They've dropped both games in Anaheim in this series (4-3 and 3-2) despite staging near-miss rallies from multi-goal deficits.

A win in Game Five could set the Stars up to author a major upset in the series as the series returns to the American Airlines Center. A loss next game and the Stars have to win two straight elimination games against the top seed in the West.

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