Party Crashers:
Kings hold off Stars 3-2

Sunday, January 01, 2006

There was no blowout win for the Los Angeles Kings this time, but they still spoiled the Dallas Stars' New Year's Eve game at the American Airlines Center. The Kings built a 3-0 lead and then held off a furious Dallas charge in third period for a 3-2 win.

The win was the Kings' third straight over the Stars and increased their lead over Dallas in the Pacific Division to three points, although the Stars have played four fewer games.

"They're a good team," Kings coach Andy Murray told the Associated Press. "You're always playing against a good team when you come here. With Modano energizing them with those two power-play goals, after that they were tough to handle."

Mike Modano scored a pair of goals for the Stars, who have lost four of their last seven games overall and three of four at home.

"They seem to have our number here," Stars center Jason Arnott told the AP, "so we'll have to play solid road hockey when we get there."

The Stars and Kings will meet again Monday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The Kings took the lead 3:24 into the game when a Pavol Demitra pass bounced off Alexander Frolov's skate and slipped between Turco and the post during a delayed penalty call on the Stars.

The Stars had four power play chances to try to tie the game, but couldn't get score. On the second power play Kings goalie Mathieu Garon made a nice save on a Jason Arnott blast and then stopped Arnott's rebound chance.

The Kings came close to scoring shorthanded on the Stars third power play, but a Tom Kostopoulos shot hit the post.

Turco came up with is best save of the period when he made a nifty pad save on a Joe Corvo shot while the Kings were on their first power play play of the game.

After failing to score on their first two power plays, the Kings scored on their third chance with the man advantage and snapped the Stars penalty kill streak at 38 straight.

Craig Conroy won a puck battle behind the net, stick handled to the side of the net and sent a cross-crease pass to Derek Armstrong, who scored from point blank range at 6:41 of the second period.

The Kings extended their lead to 3-0 just after their fourth power play expired. Defensemen Denis Grebeshkov set up Kostopoulos and Dustin Brown on a two-on-two rush and Kostopoulos finished it off by beating Turco five-hole at 14:11 of the second period. 

The Stars completely dominated the third period, outshooting the Kings 17-1 and scoring twice on the power play to make it a one goal game.

The goals came when the Stars got a five-on-three power for 55 seconds at 4:56 of the third period. The Stars cashed in on that chance when Brenden Morrow sent a pass from behind the goal line to Modano, who beat Garon from the right faceoff circle at the 5:27 mark.

The Stars remained on the power play and 1:25 later Modano struck again. After taking a cross-ice pass from Zubov, Modano fired a shot into the top corner of the net from the left faceoff circle.

The Stars were all over the Kings after that but couldn't get another puck past Garon, who ended up with 38 saves on the night.

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