Stars 5, Kings 4 (SO)
Loui Eriksson tied the game late in the third period with his second goal of the night and netted the lone tally of the shootout to lead the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 road victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski recorded a goal and an assist, Eric Nystrom also scored and Kari Lehtonen made 37 saves for Dallas, which has registered four tallies in five of its last six games.
After Los Angeles grabbed a 4-3 lead in the third with a pair of power-play goals, the Stars got a man-advantage tally of their own with 5:25 remaining to knot the contest. Eriksson was credited with his second of the night when Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell inadvertently backhanded the puck into his own net, ending Los Angeles' string of successful penalty kills at 42.
Eriksson gave Dallas the edge in the second round of the shootout as he slid a backhander around Jonathan Quick. Lehtonen denied Trevor Lewis on the Kings' final attempt, clinching the win.
Eriksson and Nystrom scored 51 seconds apart in the first period to give Dallas a 2-0 lead. Anze Kopitar redirected defenseman Jack Johnson's slap pass past Lehtonen during a power play at 6:16 of the second to halve the deficit, but Goligoski beat Quick with a one-timer from the left hash marks 58 seconds later to restore Dallas' two-goal advantage.
Lewis got the Kings back within one at 9:22 with his first tally of the season. Two Stars defensemen failed to corral the puck in the neutral zone and Lewis raced in on a breakaway, deking to his backhand before firing a shot past the outstretched glove of Lehtonen.
Johnson converted a cross-slot pass from the right faceoff circle during a two-man advantage at 6:38 of the third to forge a tie. Less than 2 1/2 minutes later, Kopitar set up captain Dustin Brown for a tap-in from the doorstep, giving the Kings their first lead of the game.
Kopitar and Johnson each notched three points for Los Angeles, which concluded a 3-1-2 homestand. The Kings have earned at least one point in 10 of their 11 games under new coach Darryl Sutter (6-1-4).