Nieuwendyk

Just a week after he was activated from injured reserve, Nieuwendyk went down again early in the third period.

"He'll probably be out a month. That's just the way our season has been going," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.

The Stars placed Nieuwendyk on injured reserve Thursday, and recalled center Derek Plante from Michigan of the IHL.

Nieuwendyk, who was playing in his third game since returning from a chest injury, had opened the scoring on a power play at 11:54 of the second with his first goal since Dec. 15.

The Stars were on the power play 37 seconds later when Ducks right wing Jeff Nielsen rammed Nieuwendyk into the boards from behind.

Nieuwendyk, 33, missed 10 games because of a chest contusion suffered last month. His latest injury is another blow to the defending Stanley Cup champions, who have lost 195 man-games to injury and have not been able to put together a prolonged stretch of solid hockey this season.

A two-time 50-goal scorer, Nieuwendyk is fourth on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 13 assists in 33 games. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff most valuable player last spring after collecting 11 goals and 10 assists in 23 games.

Dallas right wing Jere Lehtinen, the league's top defensive forward in each of the previous two seasons, also left the game with an injured ankle that will be re-evaluated Thursday.

Right wing Jamie Langenbrunner (ribs), center Brian Skrudland (chest contusion) and defensemen Derian Hatcher (calf) and Shawn Chambers (knee) also are sidelined. The Stars also have played stretches without right wing Grant Marshall and defensemen Darryl Sydor and Richard Matvichuk.