Kings Rally Past Stars, 3-1 – Postgame

The Dallas Stars third period woes at the American Airlines Center continued tonight, as the Kings rallied past the Stars with two goals off turnovers in the third period to win the game, 3-1.  Although the Stars played a much tighter game defensively for the most part, their turnovers in the third proved costly and they could not overcome them.  Continue reading below for more postgame coverage!

Recap

The Kings opened the game with about a solid minute of play in the Stars end of the ice.  However it was Shawn Horcoff who broke through less than 3 minutes into the game after a pretty saucer pass from Vern Fiddler and put the Stars up 1-0.  The Stars then had to kill of back-to-back penalties by Antoine Roussel and Jamie Oleksiak.  After the penalty killing was over, the Stars had some good chances in the Kings zone, including Cody Eakin who had at least two quality chances to make it 2-0.  Dallas went on the powerplay late in the period but were unable to capitalize and the Stars took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.

The Stars got an early powerplay in the second period that gave them nothing but trouble.  Trevor Lewis got a steal in the Stars zone and slid it past Kari Lehtonen to tie the game shorthanded.  Then Dallas started a parade to the penalty box and the Kings had some 5-3 time in the middle of the period.  The Stars got through it and Jordie Benn drew a penalty after he was hooked coming out of the box.  Both teams struggled to score on the power play in the second, despite numerous chances for the Kings and the Stars.  The second period ended tied up at 1, with the Lewis shorthanded goal being the only one in the period.

Dallas started the third period strong, with Roussel getting another strong chance right at the beginning of the frame.  Third period nightmares came back to haunt the Stars soon after that though, as Tyler Seguin coughed up a puck in his own end and Dustin Brown finished the play to give the Kings a 2-1 lead.  The “Pitbull” line of Roussel, Ryan Garbutt and Cody Eakin followed up the Brown goal with relentless attacks towards Jonathan Quick.  They were easily the best line in the game for the Stars throughout this entire contest.  About halfway through the period, the Stars turned a puck over again in their own zone but Lehtonen bailed them out with a beauty of a save on Justin Williams.  They would not be so lucky just a minute later, as another turnover costs the Stars and Kyle Clifford gave the Kings a two goal lead.  A Brenden Dillon double minor penalty for high-sticking with less than four minutes left pretty much did it for the Stars, and the Kings won the game 3-1.

Thoughts and Observations

The Stars played a much better game defensively.  Until the third period, the Stars had the better chances in the game and kept the Kings mostly to the outside of the rink.  The top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Val Nichuskin were never able to get going and the “bottom” two lines were easily the best lines in the game for the Stars.

Antoine Roussel was fantastic  in this game.  He was in Jonathan Quick’s grill all night long and had many quality chances throughout the game.  He threw his body around, he threw gatorade containers around in the penalty box, and threw pucks around the ice that led to good chances.

The Stars shut down “That 70’s Line” but just couldn’t get the job done themselves.  The top players like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, and Ales Hemsky were never able to get going.  So despite the great defensive effort against the Kings’ top players, the Stars were unable to break through and take advantage of that success.

The Stars stay at home and welcome the Nashville Predators to town for their second meeting of the season on Thursday.  Keep reading Blackout Dallas for more postgame and pregame coverage and thanks for reading!