It was another game that mixed in a few positives with a not so positive bottom line. They lost. Plain and simple.

Once again, they were unable to score in the third period while their opposition found the net and found a way to win the game. From the Stars perspective, once again, they found a way to lose.

"We are making mistakes and not covering up for each other, and it's ending up in the back of our net. It's as simple as that," said Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "You have a letdown and that's what happens."

The Stars have been outscored 14-1 in third periods over the last eight games, seven of which they have lost. During their current four-game losing streak they have been outscored 8-0 in third periods, where the Stars have twice lost leads and gone into the period tied two other times.

"It's obviously a cliché, but small plays make the big differences," Stars forward Stu Barnes said. "You have to play 60-minute games or the puck is going to be in the back of your net."

Said center Mike Ribeiro: "We play OK for half the game and the other half, we're looking around and not competing. That's unacceptable. It's time for us to react and play as a team."

The Stars started the game strong and got an immediate boost of energy from forward Steve Ott, who returned to the lineup after his three-game suspension.

But with the game tied 1-1 and bogged down a bit, Tippett shook things up, juggling his lines and getting almost an immediate dividend.

He replaced Antti Miettinen with  Barnes on the top line with Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro and that trio immediately gave the Stars some much needed momentum with a great shift. Barnes cashed in on a nice set up by Ribeiro off the rush and the Stars had a 2-1 lead with 8:28 left in the second period.

But the Stars could never extend the lead and that left if a one-shot game until late in the contest. When Trevor Daley fumbled a puck in the Dallas zone off a neutral zone faceoff and Michal Handzus got the puck and whipped it by Marty Turco with 3:01 left in the game, the collapse was underway.

The Kings were back with pressure off a short time later and Turco never got back to his feet after a scramble in front of the net.

"The third goal Marty must have thought he was interfered with. After it went by he didn't get up. He stayed on his knees, they got a point shot and it goes in," Tippett said of Lubomir Visnovsky's goal what gave the Kings a 3-2 lead just 55 seconds after Handzus had tied the game. "That's that urgency you need. Every play in the game counts. You might not like every play, but every play counts."

And then 47 seconds later Handzus struck again, knocking home the rebound of an Alexander Frolov shot off the rush.

The Stars' collapse was complete. It was another game that when things were on the line, the Stars didn't get the big play, the big goal or the big save. They got a good effort to start but, again, there was no finish in their game and for the fourth straight game there was no win and pushed their recent slide to seven losses in eight games.

Now, it's another break in the schedule before they head West for one final road trip of the season. That one starts Thursday in San Jose.