The Los Angeles Kings were in Dallas, at American Airlines Center on Saturday for the second time this year. It was the final matchup between the two teams during the regular season.
This game was an outright goal-fest.
Los Angeles was pounded early as Dallas went on to score three goals in the first period. All three goals came in the span of the last six minutes.
With 5:25 left in the first Jamie Benn gave the Stars the lead. A puck turnover caused by Cody Eakin at center ice gave the Stars a 2-on-1. Tyler Seguin went wide, was patient, and passed the puck over to Been in the slot, and Benn one-timed the puck past a sprawling Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick.
Two minutes later another turnover, this time deep in Dallas territory, left two Kings down on the ice and the Stars breaking the other way. Again a turnover caused an odd-man rush in Dallas’s favor. On a 4-0n-3 Eakin passed the puck to Benn on the far blue line. Benn entered the zone and hit the late breaking John Klingberg who fired a slapshot from the high point to beat Quick high.
Nov 4, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) screens Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) during the second period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Then with 2-seconds, that’s right 2-seconds, left in the first period Benn netted his second of the night on the power-play. Muzzin was put in the box for interfering with Benn with 50-seconds left in the period. The puck was behind the Dallas net with 13-seconds left in the period. Seguin brought the puck up and passed it to Benn at center ice. Benn approached the Kings line and dumped the puck off to Antoine Roussel, who brought the puck into the zone and dropped it back to Klingberg. Klingberg skated toward the net, drawing two Kings defenders in with him, then dropped the puck to Benn in the slot. Benn slapped a one-timer that made it through a crowd and past Quick. 3-0 Kings.
Seguin continued the scoring to start the second period. The only assist: goaltender Kari Lehtonen. The puck was chipped back to Lehtonen by Kings Marian Gaborik, as he was trying to get the puck into the zone and away from Dallas defensemen Jason Demers. Lehtonen fired a pass right up the middle of the ice, past all of the Kings, who were in the midst of making a line change, to Tyler Seguin. Seguin skated in on a breakaway and snapped a shot past Quick, who couldn’t match Seguin’s speed.
Then Kings forward Tanner Pearson made it a game, keeping the Kings alive. With the puck deep in the Kings zone, Pearson took the cycle from Kyle Clifford, passed the puck to the point to Jake Muzzin and went to the net. Muzzin took a low slapshot, the rebound went right back to Pearson who quickly snapped it to the back of the net.
The goal boosted the morale and changed the momentum to a limited extent.
Halfway through the second period the Kings were 0-for-3 on the power-play. They were also down 4-1.
Then Mr. Game 7, Justin Williams, came to the rescue. Off the face-off the Kings got the puck around to the point. Muzzin passed the puck over to Brayden McNabb in the center of the ice. McNabb took a low slapslot, and the rebound kicked out into the slot. Justin Williams was the first person to the puck and stretched his stick to slide his backhand around Lehtonen and slide the puck into the net.
The Stars would score again, ending L.A’s rally.
Jason Demers, who was a San Jose Shark and only arrived in Dallas the day before scored on the power-play. On a fast entry into the zone, the Stars set up Demers from the point. A pass from Patrick Eaves to Ales Hemsky to Demers on a one-timer and into the Kings net. It seemed like a routine shot, and proved no shot is harmless in hockey.
Mike Richards got one right back forty-seconds later. On a turnover from the Stars the Kings moved the puck up-ice in a fast transition. Clifford took the puck at the red line and made a pass to Richards that created a 2-0n-1. Richards skated wide and tried to center a pass to Tyler Toffoli. The pass hit the stick of stomach-sliding Jyrki Jokipakka as he tried to block the pass across, and redirected past Lehtonen as he moved across to stop Toffoli.
Kings started to come alive in the second. Or at least, showed a pulse.
Justin Williams was the only player to score in the third period. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the Kings.
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Off the face-off in the Stars zone, Dustin Brown took the puck along the boards. Brown threw the puck on net. Lehtonen left a loose rebound. Williams beat his man in front of the net, got to the puck first, turned on his edges and from a sharp angle fired a high shot over Lehtonen.
This is one of the first games where Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick was not stellar. Quick allowed 5 goals on 23 shots, for an uncharacteristic .783 save percentage. There’s no way around it, it just wasn’t a good showing by the usually impressive goaltender. Perhaps it’s fatigue from carrying the Kings for so long this season.
The simple fact is in Saturday’s contest the Kings came out of the gate flat and to a slow start. The Stars were fired up for this one and were ready to go. The Stars got out to a huge lead on the ill-prepared Kings, and L.A. just put themselves in a position from which they could not recover. The Kings showed their talent and heart late. They rallied but simply did not have enough time left to recover from the early hole.
The Stars scored the first four goals, the Kings scored the last two. Too little, too late.
The Kings next game, and a shot to pick themselves up, is Tuesday, November 25th in Nashville against the Predators. Game time is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PST.
Nov 4, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) and Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin (6) chase the puck during the second period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports