On Friday night the people going to the net set screens and the pucks, which came from the point, found their way past Kings goalie Mathieu Garon, who probably didn't see some of them until the last second if at all.

"There was traffic on all three goals," said Boucher. "It was just crank and shoot. Our guys did a great job screening the goalie."

The Stars power play, which ranked last in the league at home coming into the game, cashed in on four of seven chances. It scored three times in the first period and that was key in holding off a Los Angeles team that came on strong in the final two periods to make a game of it.

"We've just got to keep shooting and try to get some movement," Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas said on the Stars broadcast network. "That's what we did in the first period and we ended up with three goals."

The Stars got a lot of open shots on net from the point, which is something that hasn't been happening for the Stars. All four goals came on hard shots from the point.

"We've got to make that box move and make sure we get an open shooting lane," said Robidas. "When we get and open one we have to try to hammer it.  Sometimes those wristers, it is is hard to get it through because as a defenseman you try to block all those shots. But when it is a one-timer or a hard slap shot, it's pretty hard to block."

The power play turned out to be huge in this game. It built the Stars a 3-0 lead, then extended a 3-2 lead to 4-2 against a Kings team that showed a lot of fight, didn't quite and probably took it to the Stars at times in the second and third periods.

The Stars' penalty kill struggled on this night, giving up three goals. It has given up seven goals in the last four games, but the Stars have won three of them. On this night the power play bailed  out the penalty kill.

Mike Smith, making his second straight start, played well. He gave up three goals on 25 shots and made some good saves. All three goals came on Los Angeles power plays.

"Smitty went in there and gave us a couple of good efforts, but I don't think Marty [Turco] is going to be on the shelf much longer," Stars GM Doug Armstrong told The Ticket after the game.

The Stars will get Saturday off and will practice Sunday. Then it will be back on the road with the first game coming Monday night in Detroit.

Jere Lehtinen returned from his leg injury and ended up being double shifted at time due to Morrow leaving the game early. Lehtinen opened the game on a line with Mike Modano and Eric Lindros.

After Morrow left Lehtinen started to take some shifts in place of Morrow on a line with Mike Ribeiro and Antti Miettinen. Lehtinen ended up with 21:19 of ice time in the game.

• Philippe Boucher's hat trick was the first of his NHL career.
   
• Boucher will leave for Canada Saturday to spend time with his father, who is battling pancreatic cancer. Boucher plans on giving his father one of the pucks from his hat trick on Friday.
   
• Mike Modano had two assists, making him the 42nd NHL player to hit 1,200 NHL points.
   
• The Stars scored four power play goals in a game for the first time since November 15, 1997 in a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

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