DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars snapped Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick’s shutout streak Thursday, scoring three goals on the Kings netminder. But it wasn’t enough to get two points as the Kings tallied four against Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen in a 5-3 win over the Stars at American Airlines Center Thursday night.
The Stars rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to tie the game, but Kings defenseman Slava Voynov’s shot from the left point snapped a 3-3 tie with 6:52 remaining in regulation.
The Stars, who were coming off a 3-1-0 road trip, lost for the first time at home (4-1-0) and fell to 7-3-0 overall on the season.
“I thought for coming back from a road swing I thought we played a pretty good game,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “We had a chance to win with ten minutes left in the third. You always want to put yourself in those positions. We did, we battled back, showed some character, but in the end another seeing eye single that goes through and finds its way to the back of the net.”
The Kings became the first team to score more than two goals on Lehtonen this season, beating Lehtonen four times on 28 shots and then adding a late empty net goal to seal the victory. It was Lehtonen's first loss of the season, dropping his record to 7-1-0 on the season.
“Lehtonen is off to a tremendous start to his year. So to come in here and score five, it’s a big team effort,” said Los Angeles coach Terry Murray. “It took everybody to get the job done here tonight, with the special teams and I thought the game we showed in the offensive zone was pretty good, on recovering the pucks. We were moving our feet and creating separation to get some other opportunities. It’s a huge win for us in here.”
The Stars took a 1-0 lead 14:01 into the game when Trevor Daley scored off a rebound with Dallas on a power play. The goal snapped Quicks’ shutout streak at 202:11 and ended his bid for a fourth consecutive shutout.
The Kings scored three times in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Justin Williams scored off the rebound of a Voynov shot. Mike Richards set up Scott Parse, who scored from close range. And Dustin Brown set up Voynov, who scored a power play goal from the right circle.
The Stars bounced back to tie with a pair of goals in the third. Just second after their fourth power play of the night expired, Mike Ribeiro put a shot on net and Michael Ryder pushed the rebound over goal line to make it 3-2 at the 3:03 mark. Eric Nystrom tied it at the 7:20 mark, taking a pass from Vernon Fiddler and beating Quick with a shot from the slot.
But the Kings got the game-winner when Voynov’s shot from the right point found its way through traffic and past Lehtonen with 6:52 left in the game.
“We battled our way back, tied it up and that last one had some eyes to get through,” said Daley. “It was tough, we got back in the game and you want to try to get something out of it. We didn’t get it tonight.”
Notes
*Toby Petersen, Adam Pardy and Krys Barch were the scratches for the Stars.
*Thursday’s attendance was announced at 8,443.