Lehtonen makes 18 saves, Stars shut out Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Kari Lehtonen made 18 saves for his first shutout of the season, and Tyler Seguin scored with 8:27 remaining in the third period to lift the Dallas Stars to a 2-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Thursday.

Alexander Radulov scored an empty-goal to put the Stars ahead 2-0 with one minute left.
Dallas (35-22-4, 74 points), which had lost two games in a row and three of four, is one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division and trails the Winnipeg Jets by five for second.
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Kings highlights]
Jonathan Quick made 26 saves for the Kings, who lost for the first time in four games. Forward Tobias Rieder, who was acquired by Los Angeles in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday, had two hits and one takeaway in 12:19.
The Kings (33-23-5, 71 points) trail the St. Louis Blues by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are tied with the Calgary Flames for fourth place in the Pacific Division, two points behind the third-place Anaheim Ducks.

Seguin won a face-off against Adrian Kempe and then tipped Greg Pateryn's shot over Quick to make it 1-0 at 11:33 in the third. Seguin said it was a set play, something he borrowed from Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks.
"I've tried it with [John Klingberg] before, and it was just a play there where I knew I was having a good night against that lefty," said Seguin, who ended a four-game point drought, his longest of the season, with his 30th goal. "I told [Pateryn], 'If I win this draw clean, I'm going to spin off … look for my stick.' I meant my blade, but he found my shaft and happy it went in."
After scoring four goals in their previous four games, including a 2-0 loss at the Ducks on Wednesday, coach Ken Hitchcock said the Stars were waiting to see their strong play show up on the scoreboard.
"We needed to start seeing rewards for that good play, and getting that goal just was a big relief for everybody and it freed up the tension that we've been dealing with the last two games," Hitchcock said.
The Kings had a face-off in the Stars zone with 1:10 remaining and Quick off for the extra attacker, but Radulov cleared the puck and it ended up in the net for a two-goal lead.

Playing a playoff-type game for the second straight night, the Stars had two shots on goal in the first period, with the Kings blocking eight attempts and Drew Doughty breaking up a wraparound attempt by Jamie Benn.
The Stars had the better of the play in the second period after Hitchcock shuffled his lines, moving up Antoine Roussel to play with Benn and Radulov in an effort to contain the Kings' top line of Alex Iafallo, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, and they set the tone for Dallas, which outshot Los Angeles 26-10 in the second and third periods.
The Stars had the best chance to score in the second when Devin Shore's shot trickled past Quick and Radek Faksa poked at it, but the Kings goalie recovered to make the save and cover the puck at 1:42.
"We just didn't manage the puck for whatever reason," Kopitar said. "Obviously, in the second period we spent a lot of time in our own zone. It's tough to defend all the time. [Quick] was really, really good in the second period and made some huge stops. We just didn't create enough or spend nearly enough time in their zone as we needed to."

Goal of the game

Seguin's goal at 11:33 of the third period.

Save of the game

Lehtonen stopping Derek Forbort's shot at 3:02 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Quick stopping Faksa at 1:42 of the second period.

They said it

"Every team is looking for that because it's so darn hard right now at this time of year with so many teams involved in the West in the playoff race that every shift matters, every period matters, every game matters, and your best players are going to have to do the job for you." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock on Tyler Seguin
"Details in games like that matter. You ice a puck, you lose a face-off, the puck's in your net and you lose a hockey game. This time of year is a playoff-type atmosphere." -- Kings coach John Stevens

Need to know

Seguin has scored 30 or more goals in four of five seasons with Dallas. … Lehtonen earned his 38th NHL shutout, third against the Kings. … Los Angeles was shut out for the third time this season.

What's next

Stars: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, SN1, FS-SW+, NHL.TV
Kings: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, CITY, FS-W, NHL.TV)