ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Dallas Stars may have surprised even themselves Thursday night by playing a game that has been missing for almost a month and shutting down the defending Stanley Cup champions on their home ice in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

Not only did Dallas put together the kind of team effort that was a hallmark of this squad earlier in the season, it laid a huge amount of doubt onto the table for the Anaheim Ducks and their fans.

The Stars went 4-for-7 on the power play and took a 4-0 victory against a team that touted the best home record in the NHL. It also set up a big challenge for the Ducks, who must rebound in Game 2 on Saturday or face the prospect of going down 2-0 in the series with Game 3 and Game 4 in Dallas next week.

"It’s a good start, but we can’t get too high," Stars center Mike Modano said. "We need to get some rest and then get ramped up again. You have to respond because you know they’re going to answer the bell."

"We couldn't have drawn it up any better," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow, who scored the final goal. "We stayed smart. We stayed disciplined. And we took advantage on the power play."

The power play had been in a slump, but it was missing Mike Ribeiro, Jere Lehtinen and Brad Richards, who each have been battling soreness and illness. The Stars got their roster back intact (minus Sergei Zubov) Thursday and seemed to have a ton of energy. That allowed Stars coach Dave Tippett to put Morrow with Ribeiro and Lehtinen, and put Richards with Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist. The Ribeiro line continued to be the top scoring line for the Stars, as Morrow had a goal and two assists, Lehtinen scored a goal and had an assist, and Ribeiro earned two assists.

The Stars ran the majority of the power play with Modano and Stephane Robidas, and they made the Ducks pay for their mistakes.

"There were a lot of things that weren’t as good as they should have been,’’ said Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer. "We did take some bad penalties, but they seemed to find a way to score at will."

Steve Ott tipped a Robidas shot for the first goal. Eriksson was wide open on the second. Lehtinen and Morrow found space in the slot for the last two, thanks in large part to Ribeiro’s smart play. But when the Stars weren’t on the power play, they had to make smart plays, as well. Rookie Matt Niskanen drew the first penalty, Trevor Daley the second, Philippe Boucher the third, and Mattias Norstrom the fourth. The Stars defense did the right thing in a lot of different situations while playing under heavy pressure.

Marty Turco finished with 23 saves and recorded his fourth career playoff shutout – the fourth in his last seven playoff games.

"I don’t want to single any part of it out, because I thought Turco had some great saves, I thought our defense did a great job in front of the net, and I thought our forwards did a great job in defending," Tippett said.

Mix in strong playoff debuts for Niskanen (22:07 in ice time) and Niklas Grossman (15:39), and you have an impressive performance down the line.

"What was great about this win is that we did it as a team," Robidas said. "Honestly, we used everybody. Everybody was important in this game. When we do that, that's when we really are a good team."

That team feeling was important, especially with the team’s playoff history. The Stars had lost five straight Game 1s with Tippett as their coach and Turco in goal. They were 1-4 in those series. To put the pressure on the opposition was definitely a nice change.

"I can’t remember the last time we won a Game 1," Morrow said. "It was huge."

That said, it was just one game, players reminded.

"We have to be ready for Saturday, because we know they’re going to be ready, and we know it’s going to be twice as hard as tonight was,’’ Boucher said. "And tonight was not easy."

It just looked that way.