Success against the Stars

There are certainly some interesting storylines tonight, beyond the season debut of Jonathan Bernier and the return of Justin Williams. Tonight’s Kings opponent, Dallas, basically has its toes on the cliff, on the verge of falling out of the playoff race. The Stars enter the night in 11th place in the West, seven points behind eighth-place Calgary with 16 games remaining. The Stars are starting a six-game homestand that could determine their fate.

The Kings are 4-0 against the Stars this season, although one of the victories came in a shootout and the other game in overtime. The last Kings-Dallas game was the most decisive, as the Kings won 5-1 in Dallas just 10 days ago, a game in which the Kings were outshot 32-22 but went 2-for-2 on the power play. Here’s what Terry Murray said about the Kings’ success against Dallas this season…

MURRAY: “We’ve managed the puck, through the middle of the ice, against Dallas — for some reason — better than against other teams. We’re making the right decisions, to make them play defense down below the hash marks in their end. When we get on the cycle and protect the puck and get on our `A game’ in that area, you have to make a lot of decisions as a defending team. We’ve been able to find a way to create some plays and score some goals as a result of the play that we’re showing, more than them not being able to adjust to us. We’ve been strong and effective and make some goal-mouth plays in the last game. Stoll scored and Frolov scored, and that’s the kind of attitude that we want to bring into this one.”

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