Two teams on three-game winning streaks collide when the Los Angeles Kings host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.
The Kings are enjoying their longest win string of the season and are 8-2-1 at home. They have not played since beating visiting Ottawa 5-2 on Saturday.
Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore each had a goal and an assist in the win over the Senators, while David Rittich turned back 20 shots.
It was the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 2-1 Freeway Face-Off win at Anaheim on Friday, but the Kings showed no signs of fatigue, scoring three times in the third period to pull out the win.
“Third-period hockey is probably the most important. That’s the finish line,” said Fiala, who had tied the game at 2-2 in the second period with his ninth goal. “No matter if you’re down or up, you’ve got to rely on all the guys, and I’m very proud of the team.”
“Just got to keep it rolling,” Moore said. “Just keep building the right direction. I feel like we’re getting better.”
Tough defense has played a key part in Los Angeles’ streak, which began with a 4-1 win over the then-league-leading Winnipeg Jets.
Los Angeles has allowed two goals or fewer in six of the past seven games. The lone exception came in a surprising 7-2 loss at San Jose, when the Kings imploded and allowed a head-scratching five goals in the third period.
“Defensively, I think we’ve been pretty stingy for a while now,” Moore said. “That’s the Kings’ identity they’ve had here for a long time, and I don’t think you want to blow that up and start playing run-and-gun hockey. So I think we’ve done that well, and the goals are coming.”
Dallas is trying to match its season-best winning streak, after it won four straight games to open the season.
It will be the third game in four days for Peter DeBoer’s squad. The Stars started the streak with a 5-3 home win over Colorado on Friday and then followed that up with a 3-1 victory over Winnipeg on Sunday before starting its road trip with a 2-1 win over the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City on Monday.
Backup goalie Casey DeSmith stopped 36 of 37 shots, and Jamie Benn scored what proved to be the game-winner for the Stars, who were outshot 24-13 over the final two periods by the home team.
“Gritty performance, considering the schedule and the back-to-back,” DeBoer said. “You could see we ran out of some gas in the second half of that game. But we found a way. (We) built up a lead, defended well around our net, and Casey was our best player, which is what we needed.”
Dallas moved to within four points of the first-place Minnesota Wild in the Central Division with its eighth win in its past 11 games. The Stars finish their three-game road trip on Friday against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
“It was a critical two points: in the conference, in the division,” DeBoer said. “You’re usually not getting points in a game like this, so this was a gutsy effort from our group.”
–Field Level Media
