The Kings closed out their road trip in Dallas on Saturday night falling 4-1 to the Stars. Playing on the second half of a back-to-back, the Kings record in those instances moves to 2-6-2 with the regulation loss. The Kings record now stands at 34-22-11, two points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights for third in the Pacific Division.
Just like the Kings got out to a strong start on Friday night with a four-goal first period, the Stars flipped the script on Saturday and put up three goals in the first 20 minutes. Striking 2:28 into the game, Thomas Harley netted his 15th goal of the season with a wrist shot to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Not done yet, the Stars doubled their lead 8:49 in with another wrist shot, this one from Craig Smith, his ninth of the season. Still not done, the Stars added to their lead with 4:45 remaining in the period when Wyatt Johnston potted his 26th goal of the season with another wrist shot.
Up 3-0 entering the second period, the Stars added to their lead with a power-play goal at the 2:30 mark. Coming from Stars captain Jamie Benn, Benn found the back of the net for the 12th time this season with another wrist shot to distance themselves from the Kings even further.
The Kings did get on the scoreboard early in the third period to give them life, but the one goal was all that the team could produce on this particular night. Goalscorer for the Kings was Kevin Fiala, who notched his 22nd goal on the year.
David Rittich took the net for the Kings and made 25 saves on 29 shots. Rittich’s record moves to 10-5-3 on the season.
