The Los Angeles Kings finally got some offense from the depth scorers and the Dallas Stars had too many turnovers from their defense once again as the Kings beat the Stars 4-2 in a late afternoon tilt at the American Airlines Center.

It wasn't the volume of defensive zone turnovers that plagued the Stars on Sunday but instead the Kings ability to convert on them.

It started when Nicklas Grossman gave up the puck behind his own net and Dwight King picked up the first goal of his career after the puck moved to the slot. Then after Stephane Robidas was called for holding the stick, Andrew Loktioniv picked up his second goal of the season on a funky deflection high in the slot.

The Stars clawed their way back into the game as two of their top scorers got needed tallies. Loui Eriksson broke out of a scoring slump midway through the second period as Alex Goligoski's pass made its way between the legs of Jack Johnson. Michael Ryder tied the game early in the third on a laser of a wrist shot from the slot.

But somewhat appropriately, the game winner also came off a turnover as Goligoski lost the puck along the wall and Philip Larsen got caught cheating for an outlet pass and not covering the front of the net. With nobody in front of the net, it was an easy wrister for Jordan Nolan, also the first NHL goal of his career.

Justin Williams capped off the afternoon with an empty netter to seal Dallas' fate after the Kings sealed off the interior of the ice with the empty net.

The loss leaves the Stars three points back of eighth place Phoenix and six back of the Kings and Chicago Blackhawks.

More from this game in a bit.

They were 0-8-1 in the second night of back to backs this season. They hadn't won a game in Buffalo since 1999 (where Brett Hull famously stepped in the crease and scored a legit goal to win the Stanley Cup in game six of the series.) They were 16-0-0 when leading after two periods. Would any of these streaks end tonight?

The Dallas Stars started the game off with several good defensive plays by Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson in close to the goal to keep shots from getting to Kari Lehtonen. When they did get through, the big Finn shut down all chances in tight, and his glove hand was up for first star of the game from Razor Reaugh. Alex Goligoski would fire a shot from the point on the powerplay and receive a tip in front from Michael Ryder to score his 20th goal of the season. The Stars did not allow much in the first frame to get to Lehtonen.

Enter the second frame, where the Stars have played their worst period of hockey in general this season with a lot more goals scored against than for. Tonight, the Stars played probably their best second frame that we've seen in a while. They had a great "pack mentality" on defense. They were boxing Sabres players out of the front of the net, they were getting good backchecking from the forwards on the ice, and Lehtonen showed why he deserves to be in the elite goaltenders in the league discussion. Lehtonen absolutely stoned Drew Stafford on several prime scoring chances for the Sabres forward, who even appeared to be having conversations with his stick because he couldn't beat Lehtonen. It wasn't so much the number of saves Lehtonen made in the middle period as much as it was him coming up with the big save at the big times to not allow Buffalo to get any momentum going.

The Stars took their 1-0 lead into the third, and because they can't seem to make things easy on themselves and always like to keep it interesting, it was quite a crazy third period. Tomas Vincour would score his second goal of the season, and less than a minute later Thomas Vanek would cut the lead to one. The rest of the period was a crazy back and forth, north south game, trading scoring chances and seeing which goaltender would give first. Lehtonen would blink first, and Buffalo's Derek Roy scored with the extra attacker with less than a minute left in the third period. The extra time saw another save of the year candidate when Lehtonen stops Vanek with a pad save to send it to the shootout.

The Stars went with Eriksson in the shootout first, and he was poke checked by Ryan Miller and simply lost the puck and didn't even get a shot off. Benn went second, swung out wide, went blocker side and beat Miller handily. To end the skills competition, Mike Ribeiro gets up to try to win it and Miller stayed with him to make the save. Vincour with his first shootout attempt and couldn't elevate enough to score. Ryder would miss and the Sabres would win in the shootout. Buffalo had Brad Boyes score, then Lehtonen stoned Jason Pominville. Vanek hit the crossbar and the puck never crossed the line to extend the shootout to sudden death. Ennis wouldn't score but Gerbe beat Lehtonen with a backhand to win it for Buffalo.

Tonight, the 16-0-0 record would become 16-0-1. They still haven't won a game in Buffalo since the Stanley Cup winner. They still haven't won on the second night of a back to back and are now 0-8-2 in those situations. The effort and fight was some of the best seen on a second night of back to backs this year. They might not have gotten the full two points, but tonight they should be happy with the overall effort and getting three of four points on the road. They deserved a better fate on the game tonight than they got.

Glen Gulutzan said that they have to be better. The Dallas Stars showed they can be better early in the first period, jumping out to a quick two goal lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets. In a game that is another in a long line of must-wins for a team that hopes to make the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, the Stars dominated the first period of play. They had crisp passes, odd man rushes, and finished their scoring chances. Jamie Benn led off the scoring less than two minutes in, setting the tone for how the game would go early for Dallas. Alex Goligoski added another tally about three minutes later to lead the Stars to an early 2-0 lead.

Then the second period came. In a period where the Stars have struggled this season and are often outplayed, the defense broke down and Columbus pulled within one goal. Vinny Prospal had a redirect goal in front on Columbus' first powerplay of the game. Rick Nash scored another powerplay tally in the second to make the score 3-2.

The Dallas Stars would play some strong defense in the third to shut down the momentum the Blue Jackets had been building on in the second and hang on for a much needed win.

More thoughts on the game after the jump.

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The question coming out of the All-Star break was "Who will go on a run?" Who would catch fire and grab that eighth seed in the Western Conference? It could be the Coyotes. Phoenix, winners of four of five now, take partial possession of the West's final playoff seed with a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars.

"This is a team we're tied with, said Glen Gulutzan on Tuesday morning before this one. "This is direct competition. This is a team that wants what we want. This is a big game for us. They played last night. We're fresh. This is a real big game for us."

Playing last night is proving to not be a big deal for the Coyotes, who improve to 5-3-1 on the second night of back to backs with tonight's win. Compare that to the Stars' 0-8-1 record in that situation and this game paints a good picture of why these two teams seem to be headed in opposite directions right now.

The Coyotes would open the scoring about five minutes into the first period when Keith Yandle threw a wrist shot in from the point that appeared to deflect rather gratuitously off of Alex Goligoski and past Kari Lehtonen to give Phoenix a 1-0 lead after one.

A goal, a save, and a power play in the second period seemed to signal a change of momentum for the Stars. Michael Ryder skated through three retreating Phoenix defenders two minutes in and beat Mike Smith with a brilliant wrist shot under the blocker to tie the game. Lehtonen would then respond with a "save of the year" candidate at the other end and a four minute high sticking penalty to Mikkel Boedker gave the Stars all the time they needed to take the lead and turn momentum for good, but they were unable to connect and put just five pucks on net in the entire double power play.

An Eric Nystrom turnover inside the Stars' blue line would lead to the game winner for the Coyotes shortly thereafter, and Phoenix would add two third period goals, cruising to a 4-1 decision and a huge two points.

This one came down, on some level, to the Stars just losing too many one on one battles. The Coyotes compete level was there tonight. The Stars are still looking for theirs.

Dallas actually out-shot the Coyotes 29-24 in the loss, but Phoenix had the lions share of the quality chances. The Stars now face another back to back on the road this week as they travel to Columbus and Buffalo, before another big tilt with the Kings here this weekend.

More thoughts after the jump...

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Mike Ribeiro netted a power play goal midway through the second period, and the Dallas Stars were able to hang on to get the win in the shootout. Loui Eriksson and Jamie Benn scored in the Shootout, with Lehtonen stopping two of three shots.

The Dallas Stars experimented with some new line combinations tonight with Brenden Morrow on injured reserve, with mixed results. Mike Ribeiro was able to score on the power play with a nice patient move off a rebound, yet the trio of Eric Nystrom, Loui Eriksson and Ribeiro failed to create much offense for most of the game and were defensively outmanned as well. They did improve as the game progressed, however, which is understandable considering the circumstances.

Jamie Benn was again flying around the ice for most of the game and will surely lead his team in scoring chance differential once more, although the Benn line failed to on the board despite numerous prime chances off the rush. Ryder and Benn both had several open shots that failed to connect, with Niklas Backstrom making a number of big stops as well.

The Stars allowed the tying goal when Jake Dowell committed an egregious turnover in transition, throwing the puck to the middle of the ice that led to a two-on-none situation and Kari Lehtonen out to dry. Kyle Brodziak was able to score with a nifty head fake, tying the game midway through the third.

Lehtonen was the player of the game for the Stars, standing tall in net against a barrage in the first period and then making several big saves in the third as well. Several defensive breakdowns led to a number of close calls in the the first, although an effective penalty kill unit for the Stars seemed to kick the team into gear in the second period.

The Stars, able to maintain possession for minutes at a time, were unable to get the puck to the net consistently -- and it showed. There were obviously outchanced in this game, despite Jamie Benn's dominance of the ice for most of the game. Turnovers also cost the Stars dearly, something we'll get to shortly.

The Stars held on in the third, ensuring the game went to overtime with a loud and raucous sellout croud cheering them on. A late power play would give the Wild a last chance to win in regulation, with the Stars holding on for at least one point. This was a game the Stars needed to win in regulation, however, as they fight with the Wild for the 8th spot in the West.

Still, two points is something this team needs every night.

A few more thoughts after the game.

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In this late evening (morning?) game finish, we shall start this recap off with a little nursery rhyme:

There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

It seems to sum up these past two games of the Dallas Stars rather fittingly.

After a spectacular beating of the Anaheim Ducks last night, the Stars were looking for their first win on the second night of a back to back this season. They went up against the high flying San Jose Sharks, who they've lost four straight games against. They've never lost five in a row to the Sharks...until tonight.

Brent Burns got the Sharks going early in the first period, and with Joe Pavelski goal at the end of the first period the Dallas Stars found themselves in a very early hole. It proved to be too much to overcome.

The Stars would cut the lead to one after a powerplay goal made the score 2-1. Logan Couture and Joe Thornton scored two goals in the middle frame to make the score 4-1 going into the last period. Jamie Benn started the scoring in the third period when Thomas Greiss was lazy with the puck and instead of covering it gifted Benn with a nice little rebound goal. The Stars then started to get some consistent shifts and puck possession, and it appeared as though they may be able to get the comeback going after the Benn goal. They allowed Ryane Clowe to score the fifth Sharks goal which proved to be the nail in the proverbial coffin of the Stars' effort for the evening.

The stark contrast between the team that beat Anaheim soundly and then got beat soundly by San Jose seems to show how this team has been all season. When they play tight defensively, stay disciplined, communicate and win puck battles they look like a team that can be a legitimate threat in the playoffs. But when they get loose with their defense, stop communicating, get caught not moving in the offensive zone, and have a string of guys going to the penalty box, they look exactly like a cap floor payroll team and all that that implies.

More thoughts after the jump.

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The importance of starting on the right note in what will be an intense playoff chase after a lengthy All-Star break was not lost on the Dallas Stars. An authoritative 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks was their answer to that.

Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler, Jamie Benn, Michael Ryder, Sheldon Souray and Stephane Robidas all scored in what the Stars hope will be their first step toward their ultimate goal of qualifying for the post season. The win gives Dallas 54 points in 49 games and leaves them just one behind 8th place Minnesota (50 games played) with three head to head matchups remaining.

In the early going it looked as though the events of Dallas' last visit to Honda Center might repeat themselves, or else reciprocate what happened at American Airlines Center eight nights ago when a fluky bounce gave the less deserving team a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission, but the Stars responded authoritatively.

The Stars' third line was scored on three times in the their last visit to Anaheim, but this time it was they who answered with a rebound goal from Eric Nystrom to tie things at one, and then an unassisted Vernon Fiddler goal put the Stars on top 2-1.

Lubomir Visnovsky, in a bit of a role reversal, was victimized on the Fiddler goal and then was victimized again on a play that eventually sprung Jamie Benn for the eventual game winner. The All-Star was the most accurate shooter in Ottawa last weekend and he didn't miss on this opportunity either, putting the Stars up for good at 3-1 heading into the first intermission as he capped three goals for the good guys in just 3:54.

Bruce Boudreau chose to leave Jonas Hiller, who played in Phoenix last night, in at that point. It was the first time Hiller had given up more than two goals in 10 games.

Anaheim played a strong second period as they earned two power play opportunities and out-shot the Stars 13-7, but an early power play goal from Stephane Robidas equaled the Ducks' output in the frame and the lead remained two headed into the third.

Sheldon Souray and Michael Ryder goals, both assisted by Jamie Benn, would seal the deal for the Stars in the third along with some key saves from Kari Lehtonen down the stretch to keep the Ducks at arms length throughout.

It's a big statement win for the Stars, who now travel to San Jose to take on the vaunted Sharks tomorrow night at 9:30pm CST and we'll have all the coverage for you here at Defending Big D.

I'll be back soon with some further thoughts on this one. If you're still up... it's time to party as the Stars win their second straight, both over the Ducks...

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On a night when the Dallas Stars desperately needed to break their five game losing streak they recorded their lowest shots on goal total of the year at 16 and scored just once. They also received Kari Lehtonen's first shutout of the year for a 1-0 win and a badly needed two points that stops the bleeding and sends them into the All-Star break on a positive note.

The win stops a thee game home losing streak for the Stars and ends a nine game point streak (8-0-1) for the Ducks.

The Stars were badly out-chanced in the first period en route to getting out-shot 10 to 3, but had a 1-0 lead thanks to a point shot from Alex Goligoski that deflected awkwardly off of Cam Fowler in front of Jonas Hiller and over the top of him. Fowler had fanned on a one timer attempt earlier in the shift that led to the puck being taken up ice by Dallas and eventually the only tally of the entire contest.

Dallas came out strong in the second with a couple of quality chances, including a shot from Loui Eriksson that trickled through Hiller but not quite over the goal line, but that would be all before the Ducks reasserted dominance of possession, out-shooting the Stars 9-4 in the frame, including 4:00 of power play time. Their best chances were several deflections and goal mouth shots that missed the net, and the Stars were perhaps a little lucky to escape again with their 1-0 lead.

The third was a different story and the Stars got stronger as the game went on, eventually going on to out-shoot the Ducks 9-8 in the frame. Anaheim would pull their goaltender with about 90 seconds remaining but recorded only two shots on goal in that span, one of them from 45 feet.

Trevor Daley was credited with three blocks in the game's final 36 seconds. Steve Ott and Sheldon Souray also blocked shots in the mad scrum to preserve the win.

The Stars will next see these same Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on February 1st to open a furious month of 16 contests in 29 days.

More thoughts after the jump on an important Stars win...

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