Stars reverse fortunes in OT games against Kings
DALLAS -- One of the NHL's best overtime teams clashed with one of the worst on Friday night at American Airlines Center on Friday night and the Dallas Stars came away with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in overtime.
The Stars were 1-7 in overtime games before Esa Lindell scored on a two-on-one with Jamie Benn 1:07 into overtime.
The Kings are now 7-4 in overtime this season.
Jeff Carter gave the Kings a 1-0 lead when he scored his 18th goal of the season at 3:05 of the first period on the power play. Tanner Pearson had an assist after Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen couldn't hold onto to the initial shot and the puck trickled over to Carter at the top of the crease.
Dallas almost had an instant response, but Benn's wrist shot a minute later ripped off the post after it beat Kings goaltender Jeff Zatkoff on the stick side.
Dallas tied the score at 1 just 43 seconds into the second period.
Tyler Seguin scored his 11th goal of the season on a one-timer off a rush. John Klingberg and Jason Spezza had assists as the Stars picked apart the Kings' defense on a three-on-two.
Both teams had chances to take the lead later in the second period.
Seguin hit the post on a rush with another one-timer, and the Kings nearly scored on a rebound before Lehtonen stopped Alec Martinez with his left pad. Lehtonen later made a right pad save on Pearson on a partial breakaway with 3:12 remaining in the middle period.
Radek Faksa gave Dallas a 2-1 lead 3:30 into the third period on a rebound. Faksa was stopped by Zatkoff on the initial shot, but quickly gathered the rebound and scored his fifth goal of the season.
Carter scored his second goal of the game on a rebound to tie it at 2 at 10:51 of the third period. Devin Setoguchi had the assist after Lehtonen made an initial save with his left pad.
Carter now has eight goals in his past eight games and five goals during a three-game goal streak.
Zatkoff made 28 saves for the Kings. Lehtonen stopped 29 shots.
NOTES: Kings C Tyler Toffoli missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. ... Stars LW Antoine Roussel missed the game with an undisclosed injury and D Stephen Johns was out with a lower-body injury, which forced the Stars to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen. ... Stars C Cody Eakin served the third game of a four-game suspension for charging New York Rangers G Henrick Lundqvist on Dec. 15. ... Jeff Zatkoff started in goal for the Kings and Kari Lehtonen started for the Stars. Both sat out the past four games for their respective teams. ... Kyle Clifford and Tom Gilbert were the healthy scratches for the Kings.