Dallas Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas, left, is checked into the boards by Anaheim defenseman Sean O'Donnell during the Ducks' 4-1 victory Wednesday night.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Scott Niedermayer put Anaheim's impressive record in perspective.

"The regular season is a long stretch of hockey. There are a lot of games, road trips and everything that goes into it," the Ducks' defenseman said after a 4-1 victory over Dallas on Wednesday night.

"So far, our guys have been doing a great job of staying committed and working as hard as they can."

It's paying off: Anaheim has an NHL-best 27-4-6 record, by far the best in franchise history at this point.

"We're just trying to go out there and prove ourselves every night," said Corey Perry, who scored twice against the Stars.

"It was one of those games where there weren't really any disappointments," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "We knew we would have to win our fair share of puck battles and specialty teams would have to be good."

Perry's emergence from a slump makes the high-flying Ducks look even better. He has six goals and three assists in his last seven games after a 12-game span where he had only three assists.

"The bounces are going my way right now. Before, the puck was going one way and I was going the other way," he said. "Scoring goals is my job and that's what got me here.

"So I was putting a little pressure on myself and it was frustrating going through that stretch. My confidence is coming back."

On his second goal of the game and 11th of the season, Perry picked up the loose puck near the right circle, skated into the slot, stopped, whirled and flipped the puck over goalie Marty Turco's left shoulder to give Anaheim a 3-1 lead 13 seconds into the second period.

"I knew I didn't have a backhand shot available, so I just turned and fired it," Perry said. "I tried to get it up because I knew there would be a lot of traffic."

Niedermayer added a power-play goal at 16:39 of the second, his sixth goal and 30th point, to give Anaheim a three-goal advantage. Chris Pronger had opened the Anaheim scoring just 3:22 into the game.

Predators 2, Blackhawks 1At Chicago, Paul Kariya scored twice in the third period and won its fifth straight.Kariya's power-play goal with 7:02 left snapped a 1-1 tie.Chris Mason made 28 saves while starting his 13th straight start for Nashville. He is 9-3-1 since top goalie Tomas Vokoun underwent hand surgery on Nov. 27.

Red Wings 5, Blue Jackets 0At Detroit, Dominik Hasek made 27 saves for his 73rd NHL shutout and Dan Cleary scored twice to lift the Red Wings.