The elite goaltending battle that many expected tonight between Kari Lehtonen and Jonathan Quick never materialized in Dallas as the Kings defeated the Stars by a score of 5-3. Lehtonen dropped to 7-1 on the season, allowing four, and Joanathan Quick’s franchise record shutout streak came to an end at 202:11 in the victory.
Dallas took the lead 14:01 into the first period, finally solving Quick on the power play when Trevor Daley snuck down and crammed a puck home that Eriksson and Benn had combined to send on net, but the lead was fleeting once the second period began.
Los Angeles punctured Lehtonen three times in the middle frame and spent much of the period on the power play. William, Parse and Slava Voynov scored two even strength goals and a power play tally and the Stars took a 3-1 deficit to the room. The “when leading after two periods” stats used more and more as the season goes on were looming and a Dallas team that’s not built for multi-goal third period comebacks had a huge task before them.
The Stars were not done, however, and a big positive to take away from this one, if there is one, is that they fought to come back and tie this game in the third period. Eric Nystrom and Michael Ryder gave the Stars new life and a 3-3 tie with plenty of time left in the third, but the Kings found the back of the net on another pesky shot from the point that a Stars goaltender had no chance at, and didn’t see. Just like Saturday night.
The big story line that many will point to, through all of that, was that Dallas took seven different minor penalties, affording the Kings 9:57 of power play time, much of it while the Stars trailed. In the end, though that was frustrating, the Stars had 9:50 of power play time themselves in five opportunities but found only the one tally with the man advantage.
The loss drops the Stars to 0-2 against the Kings this year, and marks their first loss on home ice this season. Most of the people here were paying attention to the Rangers World Series game as much as the play on the ice.
More thoughts in a while. Depending on what happens with the baseball game. Let’s be honest, my attention is a little divided at the moment.