Los Angeles Kings are first in the Western Conference with win over the Dallas Stars
The Los Angeles Kings concluded their five-game road swing with a win by defeating the Dallas Stars 5-2 on Thursday 28 October.
How it happened
After trading power play goals in the first period – Dustin Brown scoring for the Kings at 3:30 and Brad Richards answering for the Stars at 16:02 – the Kings got two goals in nine seconds in the second
period to put them in the lead for good. The Dallas fans barely had time to blink before Wayne Simmonds scored just after Alexei Ponikarovsky had given the Kings a 2-1 lead.
Going into the third period up 3-1, the Kings then increased their advantage when Willie Mitchell got his first of the season shorthanded.
The Stars got one back midway through the period when Brandon Segal scored his first of the season, but Justin Williams put the game away with time winding down when he fired his fourth of the year into
an empty net.
What they're saying
The Kings get to take a break after being on the road for five straight games, and overall their coach, Terry Murray, was pleased with his team's performance and their ability to take away three wins.
"It's a great road trip," he said. "I addressed the team at the end here, when we came in, that this win makes it a great road trip. That was hard. There were a lot of late nights, travel, and to finish
it off with a big win against a division opponent like this makes it outstanding."
Dallas head coach, Marc Crawford, didn't have a positive spin to put on his team's performance as he ripped into his players after the game.
"Our guys have to get it through their skulls that they are not an overly super-skilled team," Crawford said. "If we don't outwork the other team, we don't give ourselves the best opportunity to win. And
we certainly don't give ourselves an opportunity to win when we're trying to gamble and we're trying to play extended shifts."
The Kings improved their record to 7-3 and have a chance to further extend their lead atop the Western Conference when they host the struggling New Jersey Devils (2-7-1) on Saturday 30 October.
After getting off to a great start to the season, the Stars (5-4-0) have now lost three straight. They hope to get back on track by hosting the Northeast Division's last place team, the Buffalo Sabres
(3-6-1), on Saturday night.
Tags: