Modano & Zubov sit out, Stars get shut out

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov got Saturday night off to rest minor injuries and the desperate Los Angeles Kings took advantage.  Mathieu Garon stopped 27 shots as the Kings beat the Dallas Stars 1-0 at the Staples Center Saturday night.

The loss was the second straight for the Stars, who were without Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov, both of whom sat out with minor injuries.

Johan Hedberg got the start in net and stopped 24 of 25 shots for Dallas, which lost six of eight games against the Kings this season.

"We wanted to beat LA," Stars forward Brenden Morrow told the Sports Network. "They've had our number this year. We had a good effort, but could not get the goals we needed."

 The win helped the Kings, who won for just third time in their last ten games, pull within three points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"You just need a game like this to put you back on the map," Garon told the Sports Network. "We can't afford to lose games anymore. That's the way we have to play defense."

The Kings outshot the Stars 10-8 and scored the only goal of the first period.

 It came just moments after Stars defenseman Trevor Daley made a nice play to keep the puck from trickling over the goal line behind Hedberg, Sean Avery sent a nice backhand pass from behind the net to Jeremy Roenick, who scored from the bottom of the left faceoff circle at the 10:21 mark.

Hedberg kept the Star within a goal with nice saves on Dustin Brown and Mike Cammalleri. Los Angeles goalie Mathieu Garon's best save was on  a point blank shot by a charging Brenden Morrow.

It was a scoreless second period that featured some more excellent goaltending by both Hedberg and Garon.

After Roenick beat Hedberg early in the second but had his shot hit the post, the Stars goalie made several nice saves including three more saves on Brown and another one on Cammalleri.

Garon made a pad save on a power play breakaway by Jussi Jokinen, stopped back-to-back point blank chances by Stars defenseman Trevor Daley and made a nice save on a backhand shot by Mathias Tjarnqvist. 

The Stars penalty kill came up big in the second, stopping a five-on-three Los Angeles power play that lasted one-and-a-half-minutes.

The Stars, who ended up 0-5 on the power play on the night, got two chances in the third period but could beat Garon, whose best stop of the period was a glove save on a Lehtinen shot from the slot.

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