Saturday, March 29, 2008

Dallas Stars 7, Los Angeles Kings 2

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

The Dallas Stars snapped their five-game winless streak and they did it in impressive fashion. After giving up the first goal of the game, the Stars rattled off seven straight goals in a 7-2 rout of the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center Saturday afternoon.

"It wasn't the score, but how the game went down," said Stars goalie Marty Turco, who stopped 12 of 14 shots. "It was just the relentlessness of every period of the game, every facet of the game. It was great to see, but that's what we expect."

The Stars dominated the Kings outshooting them 35-14 in the game. Dallas scored three times on the power play, including twice in the second period when they scored four times to blow the game open.

"We did some good things, but we recognize that we still have to continue to improve," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Today was another step in that process. In the third period we said, 'Let's just do the same thing we did in the second and dictate the play.' "

The Stars, who had been outscored 9-0 in third periods during their five-game winless streak, added two more scores in the third as they continued the offensive assault that had six different players tally goals.

Loui Eriksson had two goals and Stephane Robidas, Brenden Morrow, Stu Barnes, Jere Lehtinen and Niklas Hagman also scored for the Stars, who got three assists from Mike Ribeiro.

The win moved the Stars closer to wrapping up a playoff spot and pulled them to within four points of the fourth place Anaheim Ducks, whom the Stars play Sunday night.

The Kings, who had points in four of their last five and were 5-3-2 in their last ten coming into the game, ended up 4-4-0 in the season series with the Stars after losing all eight games last season.

"What happened more than anything is that our team hit a wall today," said Kings coach Marc Crawford. "You're playing against a team that is desperate and really found themselves, and that is what happens when those paths cross."

The Stars had a territorial advantage early in the game, but the Kings countered with a goal off the rush to take a 1-0 lead at the 6:09 mark of the first. Defenseman Kevin Dallman joined the rush and finished off a nice pass from Dustin Brown to give the Kings a goal on their first shot of the game.

The Kings came close to taking a 2-0 lead with a power play goal, but a Patrick O'Sullivan goal was waved off for being knocked into the net with a high stick. It was reviewed, but the on-ice call stood and the score stayed 1-0.

The Stars tied the game by taking advantage of their first power play of the game. Mike Ribeiro sent a pass from behind the net to Robidas, who scored from the bottom of the right faceoff circle at 13:29 of the first period.

The Stars dominated the second period, outshooting the Kings 16-3 and outscoring them 4-0 to take a 5-1 lead. Barnes got things rolling 16 seconds into the period when his centering pass bounced off the leg of Dallman and into the net to give the Stars the lead for good.

The Stars then scored two power play goals in a 4:09 span to make it a 4-1 game. Morrow scored off the rebound of a Robidas shot at the 6:15 mark, and then at 10:24 of the period Brad Richards sent a pass from behind the goal to Eriksson, who scored from close range.

Eriksson scored his second of the afternoon when got to a loose puck off a faceoff and shot the puck over a sprawling Kings goalie Erik Ersberg at the 13:53 mark.

Daniel Taylor made his NHL debut as he took over in net for the Kings in the third period, becoming the sixth goaltender that team has used this season. He gave up a goal on his first shot faced when Ribeiro set up Lehtinen on a breakaway and the Stars' forward scored on a wrist shot.

"I kind of wanted a nice, easy one right to the belly to start off with and then see the breakaways," Taylor said. "It was a tough one, but you just take it in stride, and hopefully we'll rebound from this."

Hagman scored later from close range on Taylor, who made saves on ten shots in first NHL action. Michael Cammalleri scored late in the game to round out the scoring for the Kings.

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