Jake Oettinger stands his ground as Dallas dethrones the Kings in LA

The Dallas Stars began the back end of their six-game road trip tonight with a stop at the Crypto.com Arena to take on the Los Angeles Kings. After allowing the San Jose Sharks to score on four power plays Saturday afternoon, all eyes were on the Stars' penalty kill tonight. The Stars did a great job of killing off Mikko Rantanen's "embellishment" penalty in the second period. Jake Oettinger looked even better in the 3-1 win against the Kings.

Even though the Stars got the win on the road tonight, the fact that they didn't have this game wrapped up in the second period was a huge miss. Early in the first period, there were stretches where the Kings had a lot of ice time, and you could tell they were exhausted. The fact that Dallas didn't really challenge the Kings early on in the game really grinded my gears tonight. Here are the four takeaways from tonight's win against the Kings.

Dallas Stars vs. Los Angeles Kings Recap: 4. Could have had a better first period

Although Wyatt Johnston opened up the scoring on a 3-on-2 rush, the Stars should have had a bigger lead at the end of the first period. There were too many times when the Kings were on the ice for too many minutes at a time, and the Stars could have taken advantage of the exhaustion. That's something the Stars need to work on. The Stars' lead should have been 2 or 3-0. Stars need to work on taking advantage of tired bodies on the ice.

Dallas Stars vs. Los Angeles Kings Recap: 3. The Stars' defense was calm tonight

The one thing I loved about the Stars' defense was that they stayed in their own zone and forced the Kings to turn the puck over. When the Stars start overcompensating on defense, it collapses their defense and gives their opponents chances to score. You could say that the Stars' defense was not calm on Saturday afternoon when they took on the Sharks. It's good to see the Stars relax and let their opponent commit a turnover in the Stars' zone.

Dallas Stars vs. Los Angeles Kings Recap: 2. Rantanen's embellishment penalty

I thought the Stars were about to do a 180, killing off Rantanen's embellishment penalty in the second period. That would be the momentum that could have swung the game in the Kings' favor if they capitalized on it. Good thing the Stars' penalty kill from this past Saturday stayed in the past. The Stars were able to keep their momentum from Johnston's goal in the first period. It would have been nice to score after killing off the penalty, but at least the game didn't swing in the Kings' favor.

Dallas Stars vs. Los Angeles Kings Recap: 1. There's our Otter

That's the Oettinger that we all know and love. Even though the team owes him a nice dinner after carrying the team tonight, He did a good job of shutting down any Kings from finding the back of the net. That's precisely what Oettinger needs after being pulled against the Carolina Hurricanes. I don't think Oettinger will start tomorrow night in Anaheim after all the shots he faced tonight. Casey DeSmith will get that duty tomorrow night when the Stars take on the Ducks.