ANAHEIM — Ducks coach Dallas Eakins expected to see a desperate team on Tuesday night.

He expected that team to be the playoff-contending Dallas Stars.

Clearly, the Ducks were fed up with a winless streak that had reached nine consecutive games, though. They matched the Stars’ desperation with each dash down the Honda Center ice, each punishing hit along the boards, each battle for a loose puck and each skillful play.

In the end, Dallas managed to erase a third-period deficit on goals by Roope Hintz and Jacob Peterson, seizing a 3-2 victory and extending the Ducks’ misery and their winless streak to (0-8-2). Peterson’s goal on breakaway broke a 2-2 tie at 12:36 of the final period.

The Ducks’ winless streak torpedoed their flickering hopes of ending a three-season playoff drought. They had dropped to seventh place in the Pacific Division. The Stars were fifth in the Central Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the second of two wild-card spots.

Dallas’ come-from-behind victory Tuesday vaulted them past idle Vegas.

“Overall, if you look at the game, that’s a desperate team over there,” Eakins said of the Stars. “We were standing there right with them. It came down, literally, to a few mistakes that did not need to happen, especially in the third period. Just stay in the game. Those are those playoff-type games.”

The Ducks scored an ugly goal and a pretty one in the second period, and since they all count the same, they took a 2-1 lead into the third. Derek Grant fired a sharp-angled shot off a skate and into the net to tie it 1-1 at 3:54 of the second. Troy Terry then scored off the rush to make it 2-1 at 9:48.

John Gibson handled the rest, blanking the Stars in the second with some of his best work in quite some time. He had a steady workload, but the Stars couldn’t crack him after Terry put the Ducks ahead with his team-leading 31st goal. Grant and Trevor Zegras assisted on the goal.

Zegras and Kevin Shattenkirk assisted on Grant’s 12th goal of the season.

Dallas took a 1-0 lead when the Ducks left Radek Faksa uncovered on what turned out to be a two-on-one break with Luke Glendening. Gibson nearly made the save, but the puck slipped past him for a 1-0 lead for the Stars at 14:05 of what was otherwise an evenly-played first.

In fact, the early minutes set the tone for what was to come. The Ducks were sharp from the start three nights after a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks extended their winless streak to 0-7-2. The Stars, rather than the Ducks, struggled to string passes together and to contain the opposition.

Faksa’s goal was perhaps the Ducks’ lone defensive lapse of the opening period. There would be others in the second, but Gibson made up for all manner of mistakes. He denied Michael Raffl from close range with a glove save and stopped Joe Pavelski on another tough chance.

In the closing seconds of the second, Gibson got a little help from the crossbar as an unmarked Alexander Radulov cut toward his net. The puck glanced off the iron and ricocheted out of harm’s way and the horn sounded a moment later, with the Ducks’ 2-1 lead still intact.

Gibson continued to sizzle during a Stars power play in the third period, stopping point-blank tries by Pavelski and Arcadia native Jason Robertson. The Ducks went into the game having given up six power-play goals in 11 short-handed situations covering their past three games.

Hintz tied it 2-2 at 8:28 of the third, after flipping Grant after a faceoff win in the Ducks’ zone. Robertson gained possession of the puck and fed it in front to Hintz, who was unmarked as Grant struggled to get to his feet. Gibson was at Hintz’s mercy and couldn’t react fast enough to make the save.

Zegras blamed himself for the Stars’ third goal. His errant centering pass struck a skate and deflected to Dallas defenseman John Klingberg. Peterson then joined him on a two-on-one rush with only Zegras back to defend, and eventually it turned into a breakaway and the go-ahead goal.

“I’m just trying to make a play and I put it in a bad spot,” Zegras said of trying to connect with defenseman Simon Benoit. “I’ve got to get back. I tried to lunge at him (Klingberg) and he put the puck over my stick. It’s just a play I’ve got to make. Or maybe not pass it at all.”

Zegras also said Gibson deserved better from his teammates. Gibson made 29 saves.

“Honestly, I just feel bad for ‘Gibby,’” Zegras said. “He’s one of the best goalies in the league. He had to stand on his head tonight and to throw that third period at him, I feel bad for him. It’s one of the better games I’ve seen him play in terms of plays that should have been goals. He made four or five saves and I’m just sitting on the bench shaking my head.

“It’s definitely pretty devastating to not get the win for him.”

The Ducks and Stars play again Thursday at Honda Center.