Kings 3, Stars 2
LOS ANGELES -- Left winger Milan Lucic scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 Tuesday night at Staples Center.
Lucic's 12th goal of the season occurred at 6:17 of the third, capping Los Angeles' rally from an early deficit.
Kings forward Anze Kopitar assisted on the goal, extending his points streak to five games. Kopitar finished with a pair of assists as the Pacific Division-leading Kings (29-13-3) captured their ninth win in the past 12 games. Kopitar has a team-high 27 assists.
Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 27 of 29 shots for his 26th win of the season.
Goalie Kari Lehtonen recorded 26 saves for Dallas (29-13-5), which has lost eight road games in a row. The Stars fell to the Kings for only the second time in the teams' past six meetings.
Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell made his NHL debut. Lindell logged 14:01 of ice time and finished with a minus-1 rating.
Right winger Ales Hemsky gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 3:03 of the first period, slapping a wrist shot for a winner after fielding a pass from center Mattias Janmark. It was Hemsky's fifth goal of the season.
The Kings tied the score with a power-play goal at 13:31 of the first period when center Vinny Lecavalier smoked a rocket from the right circle on an assist from defenseman Jamie McBain. Lecavalier has scored power-play goals in three consecutive games. All of his goals this season have come since the Kings acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 6.
Defenseman Drew Doughty lifted Los Angeles to a 2-1 advantage with his eighth goal this season, converting a pass from Kopitar with 59 seconds remaining in the first. However, the lead wouldn't last long.
Dallas center Cody Eakin knotted the score 33 seconds later with his 10th goal of the season.
NOTES: Dallas scratched D Jyrki Jokipakka, D Jamie Oleksiak and C Colton Sceviour. ... D Christian Ehrhoff and C Jordan Nolan were unavailable for the Kings. ... The Stars led the NHL with an average of 3.30 goals per game entering the contest. They also had a league-best 152 goals. ... Dallas, which won two of the three games against Los Angeles last season, had 109 wins overall against the Kings entering the contest, the most by the Stars against any league franchise. ... Tuesday's contest was the first of three between the two clubs. They meet again March 15 at Dallas and April 2 in Los Angeles. ... Both teams resume play Thursday. The Stars begin a three-game homestand against the Edmonton Oilers, while the Kings host the Minnesota Wild. ... An announced crowd of 18,230 attended.