The ghosts of playoff failures past haunted American Airlines Center on Thursday night.

Brenden Morrow took a late penalty.

Marty Turco allowed a late goal.

And the Stars lost a high-pressure game on home ice.

Todd Bertuzzi scored a power-play goal for Anaheim with 27.2 seconds remaining in regulation to lead the Ducks to a 2-1 win over the Stars.

The loss dropped Dallas to 1-6-0 in its last seven games and pushed Anaheim (42-25-8, 92 points) three points ahead in the standings.

The setback makes it extremely tough for the Stars (42-28-5, 89 points) to catch San Jose for first place in the Pacific Division and also places Dallas squarely behind the Ducks in the battle for fourth place in the Western Conference and home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

If the playoffs started today, the Stars would play Anaheim in the first round and start on the road.

"That's a big game," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "And we're finding ways to lose instead of finding ways to win."

The Stars had any number of chances to make big plays, but they simply couldn't convert the ones that mattered.

Their power play, which had dominated Anaheim this season, went 0-for-7 with two shots on goal, including a frustrating four-minute stretch in the third period with the score tied. Dallas spent 12:44 with some form of man advantage.

"That's a slap in the face of our power play," Tippett said. "And we better answer that."

What's more, their top-ranked penalty kill allowed two goals on the Ducks' four chances, including the game-winner.

Morrow, who has been bit by late penalties in previous playoff losses, was skating through the neutral zone when Bertuzzi found a way to get in his way. Morrow was called for interference, and the Ducks gained a crucial power play with 1:13 left in regulation.

Bertuzzi then wound up in the slot with the puck on his stick, and he shoveled a soft backhand at Turco from a hard angle that somehow slipped through the Stars goalie and trickled into the net.

"It was just a shot from a bad angle that I got a piece of, but it went in," Turco said. "I certainly would like that one back."

Turco also has a history of allowing late goals in the playoffs – something he corrected last season in a seven-game series against Vancouver. Still, with three first-round series losses in the past, their worst slump of the season in the present and seven games remaining before the playoffs in the future, the Stars have to find some way to get their game in line.

Defenseman Sergei Zubov missed his 26th consecutive game, but he was given the go-ahead to start skating today, so he should be ready for the playoffs if all goes well. So there are some bright spots the team can focus on.

"There were some positives tonight, but we need to push ahead – and we would have said that whether we won or lost," Tippett said. "You have to make your own breaks."

The Stars were a better team than they have been recently. They came out with a spirited effort in the first period and scored first on a Morrow short-handed breakaway. They out-shot the Ducks and won a lot of the puck battles. But they came up short when it mattered most – and that has to be a concern to everyone on the team.

"I don't take any positives out of this – I'm way past that right now," Morrow said. "We made it close, but close isn't going to get you very far."