Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Loui Eriksson scored twice, as the Dallas Stars snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-2 throttling of the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
Stephane Robidas finished with a goal and two assists, while Brenden Morrow, Stu Barnes, Niklas Hagman, and Jere Lehtinen all tallied for Dallas. The Stars picked up just their second win of the month, and set the pace for the fifth playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Dallas, Calgary, and Colorado entered Saturday's games tied at 90 points. The Stars temporarily moved into sole possession of fifth, though Calgary hosts Edmonton later Saturday. Dallas also moved within four points of the idle Ducks for fourth, and the two teams play Sunday in Anaheim.
Marty Turco faced just 14 shots, and stopped 12, while Mike Ribeiro had three assists for the Stars.
"Today was a good example of what we need to do. The beauty was not the score, it's how it went down," Turco said. "We played relentless throughout the game."
Mike Cammalleri and Kevin Dallman each scored for Los Angeles, which has lost two of three. Erik Ersberg started in net and gave up five goals on 25 shots, and Daniel Taylor stopped 8-of-10 shots in relief.
"What happened more than anything is our team hit a wall today. You're playing against a team that is desperate and really found themselves and that is what happens when those paths cross," Los Angeles head coach Marc Crawford said. "There's no excuse, you never want to play like that in front of your fans, but we ran out of gas today."
After the teams scored a goal apiece in the first period, Dallas poured on the pressure in the middle frame. Barnes got things started just 16 seconds in, as he centered a pass across the crease from the left circle, and the disc deflected off a Los Angeles player's skate past Ersberg.
Morrow got the puck past Ersberg on a Dallas power play at 6:15, putting the Stars in front 3-1 with his team-leading 31st goal of the season. Then, at the midway point, Eriksson scored the first of his goals on another Dallas power play. Brad Richards fed Eriksson the puck from behind the net, and Eriksson quickly banged in the one-timer.
The two players connected again at the 13:53 mark, with Eriksson recording his 14th marker of the year. Dallas took the 5-1 advantage into the second intermission, and only added to it from there.
Lehtinen scored 4:26 into the third, and Hagman netted the seventh Dallas goal with 4:38 remaining. Cammalleri's goal came with just under three minutes left, but at that point the game was well out of the Kings' reach.
Dallman put the Kings on the board 6:09 into the contest, but Robidas scored the equalizer on the power play at 13:29.
Providence, RI (Sports Network) - The Providence Bruins assigned goaltender Kevin Nastiuk to the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL, the Ameri... Full Story...
What Is The Score | WhatistheScore.com
Design by SEOSolutions.co.cr
All Rights Reserved ©2006-2007
WITS - WhatIsTheScore.com is a Sports Content Website offering Real Time Sports Information such as Live Score, Free Live Odds, Sports News, Sports Events, Stats, Standings, Sports Articles and more in all Major Sports around the World – WhatIsTheScore.com