FINAL – Kings 1, Stars 4 – Danault, Hiller

The LA Kings concluded their three-game roadtrip with a 4-1 loss against the Dallas Stars on Saturday evening at American Airlines Center.

Dallas opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, with an unfortunate bounce putting the puck into the Kings net. Defenseman Thomas Harley sent a shot from the point on net, which was stopped by LA netminder David Rittich, but the rebound bounced off the glass behind the net, up into the air, off the back of Rittich and in for Harley’s 15th goal of the season and an early one-goal lead.

Just shy of the halfway mark of the opening period, the Stars pulled ahead 2-0 through forward Craig Smith. After the Kings were unable to get the puck deep when approaching the offensive blue line, Dallas went the other way in transition and Smith disguised his release through a screen and snapped his shot past Rittich on the blocker side for a 2-0 lead.

The Stars made it 3-0 before the end of the opening period, with another goal in transition. Dallas turned the puck around through the neutral zone, working it to forward Wyatt Johnston down the left wing. Johnston walked into the slot, between the circles and fired home his 26th goal of the season on the glove side, putting Dallas ahead by three at the first intermission.

Two and a half minutes into the second period, the hosts extended their lead to four with a power-play goal. Forward Joe Pavelski made a move at the blue line to gain the offensive zone with possession. He then fed forward Jamie Benn off the rush, with the Dallas captain burying his shot from the left-hand circle, inside the far post on the glove side, for a 4-0 advantage.

The Kings got on the board just over a minute into the third period, as Kevin Fiala picked up his 22nd goal of the season. Off a won faceoff from forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, Fiala worked his way into the circle, collected the puck and beat Dallas netminder Scott Wedgewood with a quick release, getting the visitors on the board. Dubois tallied the lone assist on the play, giving him assists in consecutive games.

Hear from forward Phillip Danault and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s loss.

Phillip Danault
On what he felt was the difference in tonight’s game
We haven’t played good against that team, so far, so we haven’t shown what we’ve got. So it’s just, maybe it’s mental and we’ve got to be more ready obviously. Back-to-back but we should be better, we were better in the third. We should be playing that way all the time.

On if he felt there was a point in the first period where things got away from the Kings
They had a good bounce there [on the first goal], but they had some Grade-A’s and good some chances and they buried them and got some good bounces as well, so nothing you can do there.

On what the Kings need to do differently against Dallas, who has had their number this season
More guys to the net, more direct, maybe, like right up and get more chance. All around, they’re a pretty good team, but we haven’t played our best that’s for sure.

On if he feels the Dallas size on defense is a problem for the Kings
No, I think we have trouble getting in the zone. I don’t think it’s because the d-men, but obviously they do have some really good d-men, but I don’t think it’s the size.

Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from tonight
We knew they were going be a little fresher than us at the start, we needed to get through the first 10 minutes of the game, that was one of our keys, make sure we didn’t turn the puck over, we did that twice. Four odd-man rushes in the first period and that’s not a recipe for success. They’re a good team. We needed to play cleaner game, we didn’t, and they finished.

On mental mistakes tonight versus physical mistakes
That was it, we skated, we forechecked early, we just turned the puck over in the neutral zone, they transitioned and then we lost F3 and they came at us with odd-man rushes. Those were mental mistakes, those weren’t physical, anything like that. Just mistakes that can’t happen against a team like this, when you’re on a back-to-back, you have to play tight.

On the difficulties in gaining the offensive zone with possession against Dallas
They’re a good team, they skate well, they track back, they gap well, they make it hard on your for sure. I don’t know that we had an odd-man rush tonight, they kept it clean that way and we gave up too many, so there’s a difference right there. It’s easier to get in the zone if you’ve got an odd-man [rush]. Give them credit, they played well and they’re a good team. More than that. I don’t know, just got to play better against them.

On the energy and impact from Alex Laferriere
Yeah, that’s a credit to him, but you don’t want to be relying on a first-year player this time of the season, but credit to him, he’s making us use him more than some other guys. He’s a good player, he’s honest, he works, he skates, he’s strong on pucks, he competes, all the things that I tell you coaches like but he’s also got an offensive touch. We’ve seen that, he scored his 10th goal, so he’s just got a bright future for him and we really like what he brings.

On if he considered a goaltending change to spark the group during the first period
No, not at all, not at all. First one, I wouldn’t have that on Dave at all, it hit the backboard, came back over, they knocked it out of the air. We lost the face off, we weren’t able to get out and put pressure on the defensemen and then it was kind of an odd goal to go in. Couple long ones, shots through screens, he had a hard time picking it up, those ones just had eyes.

Notes –
– Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his 22nd goal of the season. Fiala has now scored a goal in two straight games against the Stars (1-0=1, March 9, 2024), the second time recording goals in back-to-back games against the Stars in his career (2GP, 3-1=4; April 14 – Nov. 1, 2022).
– Fiala joins Nino Niederraiter (2x) and Timo Meier (2x) as the only Swiss skaters in league history to record multiple two-game goal streaks against the Dallas Stars.
– Pierre-Luc Dubois (0-1=1) picked up his 16th assist of the season. Dubois has now recorded assists in back-to-back games and has three points (1-2=3) over those two games.
– Tonight, Head Athletic Trainer Chris Kingsley reached the milestone of his 2000th game in professional hockey, splitting his tenure with Cushing Academy, Lowell Lock Monsters, USA Hockey, Manchester Monarchs, and the LA Kings.

The Kings have a scheduled team off day tomorrow upon their return to Los Angeles. The team will return to the ice on Monday, March 18, at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.