Another third-period lead held (barely)

The good: the Kings took a two-goal lead into the third period last night. The bad: eight minutes later, it was gone. The bottom line: the Kings avoided a complete meltdown and won the game anyway. Holding a third-period lead has been a Kings trademark under Terry Murray, and it’s a sign of mental toughness because most often the visiting team will give everything it has, particularly if the game is still within reach. So, Murray was pleased that after the Stars tied the game 7:20 into the third period, the Kings got things turned around and scored the game-winning goal less than six minutes later.

MURRAY: “I liked the energy on the bench. (after Dallas tied the game). I liked the way the guys were talking on the bench. All the positive stuff was being said, and I think that’s just what kept the momentum going. The goal that they scored at the start of the third period, it wasn’t a power play but we were just getting back to 5-on-5 play. The other one was just one of those quick plays that they made. It wasn’t a breakdown so much as they made a strong play, bang-bang from behind the net, to find a shooter. That’s their patented look, and it paid off for them, it worked. The sign of maturity is that we recognized that situation and, `Hey, everything is OK, we just have to keep playing.’ We had a good 50 minutes, up to that point, and we wanted to keep building on it and it paid off for us.’’