Strange things always seem to happen when the Stars play the Kings at the Staples Center. And tonight was no different as the Kings raced out to a 4-1 lead behind Anze Kopitar's hat trick and a litany of poor defensive play in front of Alex Auld, who wasn't able to bail his mates out, after 40 minutes.
But then Jamie Benn released a laser of a shot over Jonathan Quick's shoulder, Mark Fistric scored his first NHL goal on a screen shot from the blue line, and James Neal ripped a shot that beat Quick to the stickside and went in off the post, hit twine, and came out. A goal that Kevin Pollack is reportedly still waving off according to Art on Twitter.
But the NHL has replay in place for situations like this. And fortunately, Gordon Riese wasn't anywhere to be found to allow this horrible call to stand.
4-4, headed to OT...and Michael Handzus scores on the Kings' first shot of the extra period to guarantee LA the two points we all thought they had in the bag.
Dallas got the consolation point for losing in OT. And considering how bad the team played through 40 minutes, that's a very good point.
OTOH, the fact that the defensive lapses are continuing is very concerning from the 30,000 foot view. This team desperately needs a true #1 defenseman. But with the internal cap that's been placed on the club combined with the stark reality that any such deal would require the Stars to part with a Loui Eriksson, James Neal, or Jamie Benn at least to get a deal done.
And dare I suggest that just won't happen considering the number of times we as fans have complained about not having any young talented players in the pipeline.
At least not yet.
More to come tomorrow morning. [Note by Brandon Worley] We'll have more on last night's game later today in Stargazing.