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Stars click in 5-1 win over Kings Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Stars coach Dave Tippett said forward Niklas Hagman has earned his spot playing on a top line and Hagman showed why Wednesday night. The Finnish forward scored two goals as the Stars rolled over the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 at the American Airlines Center Wednesday night. "We said before this game that he had earned that spot and he did nothing to discourage that tonight," Tippett said. Hagman, who scored once shorthanded and once at even strength, now leads the Stars with four goals and has tallied in three of the Stars' four games this season. He said some of his offense comes from the fact that he is used in a lot of situation these days. "In the league today there is so much power play and penalty kill time and I am fortunate to play both," Hagman said. "I'm in the game all the time." Mike Ribeiro, returning to the lineup after missing the first three games with an ankle injury, had a goal and an assist on the night. Marty Turco stopped 32 of 33 shots for the Stars. Antti Miettinen and Joel Lundqvist also scored for the Stars, who have beaten the King nine straight times. "Things meshed pretty well tonight. We had a lot of positives to build on," Tippett said. "We're looking for some consistency. We're looking for some people to click together and tonight was a good start." The win put the Stars' record at 2-2-0 on the season and 2-0-0 at home, where they have outscored the opposition 9-2 in the two wins. "Tonight was just a great effort," said Turco. "There's been some inconsistency over the last little bit. Home has been good to us and we've got one more at to get off .500 and then start playing for real on the road. Tonight was a good step forward for this group." The Kings, who were plagued by some costly turnovers, dropped to 1-3-0 on the season. "We have to execute better. We had three giveaways and they all ended up in the back of our net, which isn't characteristic of our club," said Kings coach Marc Crawford. "Tonight the big story was Turco. We had way more great chances. He was the difference-maker for them." Hagman had the first great scoring chance of the game, but Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera made a great glove save on the Dallas forward's point blank backhand shot. Hagman would strike later with a shorthanded goal. After Kings forward Kyle Calder coughed up the puck in his own zone, Hagman broke in all alone and scored off a backhand 7:25 into the game. "I kind of read where Calder was going to
try to pass and the puck hit me on the glove," Hagman said. "I was able
to get on a breakaway and went through 25 different scenarios before I
decided to go backhand." The Kings had a chance to pull to within a goal when Alexander Frolov had a shorthanded breakaway attempt about five minutes later, but Turco stuck out the pad to keep it a 2-0 game. The Stars extended the lead to 3-0 due to another turnover. After rookie defenseman Jack Johnson turned it over at his own blue line, Miettinen skated into the right circle and beat LaBarbera with a perfectly placed shot into the top corner of the net. Dallas scored on the power play at the 16:05 mark when Jere Lehtinen, who was down on the ice, nudged the puck towards the goal and Ribeiro then flipped the puck over LaBarbera. The Stars made it 5-0 just 16 seconds into the third period when Kings defenseman lost the puck in the neutral zone and Jeff Halpern got the puck to Lundqvist, who broke in on net and beat LaBarbera. The Kings ended Turco's bid for a shutout with 10:57 remaining when Calder scored off a rebound after Turco made a sharp save on a deflection attempt by Raitis Ivanans.
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