photo by SceneByKimberly.com

In disheartening fashion, the Americans fell 5-1 against the Missouri Mavericks in Round 2 Game 1 of the Ray Miron President’s Cup playoffs.

The first period was very tight, with Missouri’s Sebastien Thinel sliding one past Aaron Dell at  1:55 of the 1st.  Things started to look up for Allen as a penalty shot was awarded to Jim McKenzie after getting hauled down on a breakaway. Unfortunately, this didn’t go in Allen’s favor as Missouri tender Mathieu Corbeil stone cold robbed McKenzie who pulled off a great move in his bid.  The rest of the first was pretty uneventful with the exception of Captain Jason Dietsch going full tilt with Missouri’s Kenton Miller.

In the second, spirits were lifted when Kale Kerbashian blazed one past Corbeil from the middle of the slot on a great pass by Drew Daniels and tied the score up giving the Allen faithful hope until things started downhill again and Missouri’s  Dave Pszenyczny scored on the Power Play with Jarrett Lukin sitting in  the box for Roughing.  2-1 Missouri at the end of the second.

The third period saw things tumble out of control for Allen as the Referee started throwing out penalties left and right.  Under normal circumstances, a little berating of the refs is tolerated so that the players can get their frustrations out.  This ref was having none of it and doling out Unsportsmanlike calls on a whim.  This led to two more Missouri goals on power plays with Kenton Miller and Andrew Courtney picking up the tallies sealing Allen’s fate in this one.  A later goal was added by Missouri’s Kellan Tochkin to bring the score to 5-1.

Those receiving Unsportsmanlike calls were Jarrett Lukin, Daryl Bootland, Corbin Baldwin and Jim McKenzie.  Additionally, Lukin received a Rule 40 Abuse Of Officials Game Misconduct.

Hopefully Allen can get their heads in the game and dig themselves out of this hole.  Game 2 puck drop tonight, April 15th @ 7:05PM

It has been happy times in the Stars organization since the trade deadline as it seems all was lost for the Stars for the rest of this season, but a new light has begun to shine in Dallas. The emergence of Alex Chiasson as a force in the NHL, and other veteran players taking a charge in the leadership of this group when it seemed as if that all had been gone with the trade deadline. Dallas faced San Jose tonight in a rematch from last Sunday when the Stars made a heroic comeback to defeat the Sharks in a shootout. A Stars victory tonight would give Dallas enough points and an advantage in the tiebreaker to push them above Detroit for the eight spot in the western conference standings.

First Period

A big key in Dallas’ win streak as of late is the ability to get leads early in periods and the same occured tonight as just under two minutes into the game the Stars were playing with a lead when Eric Nystrom finished off a two on one offensive rush beating Antii Niemi for his seventh goal of the season. San Jose played the next few minutes in penalty trouble and it eventually cost them as a interference penalty on Raffi Torres gave the Stars a powerplay which they cashed in on. Alex Chiasson scored his sixth goal of the season in his sixth game. Dallas got the jump on San Jose in the first and kept a 2-0 lead through the first period.

Second Period

San Jose looked to come back this period and took control of the offensive zone time. The Stars defense stood pat and Richard Bachman made saves on all seven San Jose shots in the period keeping the game 2-0 Stars after two periods.

Third Period

San Jose continued their torrid pace to tie the game. An early period tripping penalty by Alex Goligoski gave San Jose a prime opportunity to come back. This penalty cost the Stars this time as Brent Burns scored his seventh of the season. San Jose controlled the puck for a majority of the period outshooting Dallas 13-5 in the period, but the Stars defense and goaltender Richard Bachman were able to hang on and defeat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in regulation.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Derian Hatcher who was named as a member of the Dallas Stars 20th Anniversary Team
• Playoff Watch: With the regulation victory the Stars now move into eighth place over Detroit.
• Streaks: The impressive streaks of Alex Chiasson, Vernon Fiddler, and Richard Bachman continue. Five game scoring streak for Chiasson, six game scoring streak for Fiddler, and five straight decisions ending in victory for Richard Bachman.
• San Jose fired 83 shots tonight: 32 were shots on goal, 30 were blocked by the Stars and 21 missed the net.
• Since the trade deadline, Alex Chiasson is second to Alex Ovechkin in goals with six, Ovechkin has seven.
• Attendance for tonight’s game: 18,007
• Three Stars of the Game Chosen by Bob Sturm of KTCK 1310 The Ticket: 1. Richard Bachman 2. Eric Nystrom 3. Joe Pavelski
• The Stars have a tough test Monday when they attempt to push their winning streak to six games as the best in the west, Chicago Blackhawks will host the Stars in Chicago. Puck drops at 7:00 pm.

It’s been impressive what the Stars have been able to accomplish in the past week since the trade deadline, in the past three games the Stars are 3-0-0 scoring twelve goals in the streak. New leaders have arrived as well as players like Vernon Fiddler, Eric Nystrom and Alex Chiasson have thrived in bigger minutes and bigger roles for the team. Tonight the Stars face off against the injury-plagued Nashville Predators. Nashville missing key players like Paul Gaustad and Gabriel Bourque from it’s lineup tonight. Dallas also missing Kari Lehtonen will rely on Richard Bachman until Kari is back from his lower body injury. Dallas jumped on the Predators early in the game and never took their foot off the gas in this game as Nashville was simply no match for the Stars tonight.

First Period

It was clear from the beginning that Dallas was going to take advantage of the inexperience of the Nashville lineup which they did holding Nashville without a shot in the first ten minutes of the period. Nashville did out shoot Dallas 6-5 in the period, but Dallas made their shots count as Dallas scored two goals within a short amount of time at the 6:04 mark of the period when a hardworking shift by Nystrom-Fiddler-Cole resulted in a goal as Eric Cole fired a slapshot past Nashville goaltender Chris Mason for his fifth goal as a Star and eighth of the season. Shortly after at the 8:40 mark of the period, while on the powerplay Dallas cashed in when Ray Whitney was set up for a one timer on the left face-off dot by Alex Goligoski for his tenth goal of the season. After Dallas obtained the two goal lead Nashville looked for ways to get themselves back into the game and got some momentum when Rich Clune who spent the entire first period looking for a fight and finally got one towards the end of the first period when Antoine Roussel answered Clune’s challenge. Before the end of the period Nashville cut Dallas’ lead to one goal as Taylor Beck scored his third goal of the season at the 18:42 mark of the period making the game 2-1 after the first.

Second Period

Dallas struck quickly to regain their two goal lead as the fourth line got on the score sheet when Tom Wandell finished a play created by Ryan Garbutt and Antoine Roussel for his first NHL goal in over a year. Nashville tried to answer throughout the period, but Richard Bachman held the Predators scoreless in the second stopping all nine Nashville shots. Dallas created a deeper hole for Nashville at the 11:12 mark of the period when Alex Chiasson scored his fourth goal of the season. Dallas ended the period with a big penalty kill and took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.

Third Period

The period was mostly a mop up one for the Stars as they were just playing the last twenty minutes. At the 7:03 mark of the period Alex Chiasson scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the season giving Dallas a 5-1 lead. Nashville had a small attempt at a comeback at the 12:12 mark of the period when Bobby Butler scored his second goal of the season, but the comeback was soon put away when Sergei Kostitsyn got a boarding major at the 16:31 mark of the period putting the game away and giving Dallas a 5-2 victory for their fourth victory in a row.

Game Extras

• Richard Bachman won his fourth straight decision and five of his last six
• Vernon Fiddler earned two assist tonight, pushing him to a five game point streak. Fiddler has fifteen points on the season (3g, 12a) and eight of those points have come during the streak.
• Playoff  Update: With the break, Dallas was three points behind eighth place Detroit in the west. With the win tonight Dallas is only 1 point behind Detroit with eight games remaining.
• Alex Chiasson didn’t register a point in his first NHL game, but has in his last four including all five goals.
• Three Stars of the Game Chosen by Nashville Media: 1. Alex Chiasson 2. Ray Whitney 3. Vernon Fiddler
• The Stars return home to face the Sharks tomorrow, puck drops at 7:00 pm

Photo Credit – Chip Crail

American’s fans will be sad to hear that goalie Aaron Dell has signed a PTO (Professional Try Out) with the Houston Aeros (AHL).

The reasoning behind this is that Houston Goaltenders Jeff Deslauriers and Cody Reichard are both injured and Dell’s services along with Mike Condon from Princeton University have been brought in to fill the spots.  Currently it is not known how long Dell will spend there and if it will impact the Americans when they play Game 1 of Round 2 in the Ray Miron Cup playoffs against the Missouri Mavericks on Sunday April 14th @ 5:05pm.

We wish Aaron well in his time there but will miss him in the Allen net.

Riding the momentum of an epic win Sunday against San Jose, the Stars needed any kind of spark in their game tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are 8-1-1 in their last ten games against the Stars in the American Airlines Center, and with players like Justin Williams and Jeff Carter playing really hot right now and Jonathan Quick looking like the MVP he was last season, the Stars certainly looked to have their hands full tonight, but as the young players have stepped up the past few games tonight the veterans took charge and lead the Stars to a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles.

First Period

It didn’t take long and the Stars were already on the penalty kill as Loui Eriksson took a double minor for high sticking only 34 seconds into the game. Los Angeles didn’t take long on converting the first powerplay into a goal as Drew Doughty scored his fourth of the season. Dallas killed off the second opportunity and began to grind their way back into this game with physical play. Dallas dominated the last ten minutes of the period and were able to draw the Los Angeles Kings into two penalties they didn’t score on the first one, but six seconds after it expired Alex Goligoski scored his second goal of the season on a slapshot from the point tying the game at one. At the 14:18 mark of the period the game went into a tv timeout and during the break, Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen had skated off the ice and went down the Stars’ tunnel with the teams medical staff and Richard Bachman had entered the game. Bachman had a combined 34 1/2 minutes played in his previous two games and hadn’t had a start since February 26th. Dallas made it the rest of the period allowing three shots on Bachman in the final five minutes of the period. The Kings and Stars were tied at one after one period.

Second Period

No goals were scored in the second, but none the less this period was one of the best the Stars played all season. The Stars penalty kill was really put to the test this period as an Aaron Rome double-minor for high sticking put the Stars in a corner, but a round of applause to Richard Bachman, Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler, Alex Goligoski, Stephane Robidas, Trevor Daley, Brenden Dillon, Cody Eakin, and Eric Cole as they kept the Stars in the game and gave them a big momentum push killing off two penalties in the second period and not really allowing a premium scoring chance for the Kings. Dallas faced 17 LA shots in the period and eight on the powerplay, but they stood strong and kept the game tied at one going into the third period.

Third Period

The Stars opening rush into the offensive zone paid off greatly as Alex Chiasson set up Ray Whitney for his eighth goal of the season just 52 seconds into the period. This seemed to have a domino effect on the Kings as Dallas scored three additional goals this period, including another one by Ray Whitney and two by Vernon Fiddler. Dallas dominated Los Angeles in the third period and shut them down to just five shots giving Richard Bachman 22 saves on 22 shots as the Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-1.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Ed Belfour who was named as a member of the 20th Anniversary Team
• Kari Lehtonen left tonight’s game with a “Lower Body Injury” and will be re-evaluated Wednesday.
• PLAYOFF WATCH: With tonight’s win Dallas leapfrogs over Columbus to ninth place in the west and only two points behind eighth place Detroit, and nine games remaining this season and the regular season finale will be against Detroit this year.
• Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley both ended tonights game a +4 on the scoresheet. The +4 brings Daley and Robidas to an even 0 on the season.
• With tonight’s win Richard Bachman has won his last three decisions in a row including the game against the Minnesota Wild where he played a full 2:32 to pick up the win.
• Kings’ player names you heard a lot of tonight: Regehr, Richards, and Quick. Names you didn’t hear a lot of: Kopitar, Carter, Williams
• Official Attendance for tonight’s game: 16,367
• Three Stars of the Game chosen by John Tranchina of the Associated Press: 1. Ray Whitney 2. Vernon Fiddler 3. Stephane Robidas
• Keep Dallas Pesky honorable mention to Richard Bachman as he made 22 saves on 22 King shots in relief of Kari Lehtonen tonight.
• The Stars have a couple of days off before they travel to Music City to finish their season series against the Nashville Predators Friday, puck drops at 7:00 pm

Things have not been going well for the Stars lately, the are in the middle of a three game losing streak and have lost four of the last five scoring only 12 goals as a team in that span. Tonight they finished their season series against Pacific Division leading Anaheim tonight. Tonight was the third game in a row between the two teams with Anaheim taking the first two in a convincing fashion. Tonight however Anaheim was different as their captain Ryan Getzlaf would miss tonight’s game after an akward fall he took in Wednesday night’s game. The Ducks certainly missed their captain who had five points in the first two games against the Stars this week as Dallas ends their losing streak in a convincing fashion.

First Period

The game started off similar to the previous two against the Ducks as the Stars had problems clearing the puck from their own zone and were creating many turnovers in the period. Kari Lehtonen was sharp in erasing Dallas’ mistakes in the opening half of the period. A play out of nowhere gave Dallas their first goal of the game at the 9:03 mark of the period when Lane MacDermid scored his second goal as a Star as he and Antoine Roussel crashed the Anaheim net and MacDermid finished the play with a nice backhand shot. Dallas didn’t keep their lead for long as 18 seconds later, Andrew Cogliano got a tip-in goal after a puck took an odd bounce around Kari Lehtonen and that quick the game was tied at one. The game picked up physically as these teams looked like they had played the past two games against each other, eventually producing a fight against Antoine Roussel and Emerson Etem. At the same time of the fight, Lane MacDermid was called for a high sticking penalty. On the ensuing powerplay it only took thirteen seconds for a goal to be scored, but it was Dallas scoring the goal as Eric Nystrom hustled down a cleared puck beating Anaheim goaltender Viktor Fasth to the puck and having an open net to shoot at giving Dallas a 2-1 lead. The game got more intense as the period moved along, Anaheim became frustrated with Dallas and started to take penalties because of it all the time in the offensive zone eventually paid off for the Stars as the newest Stars rookie Alex Chiasson scored his first of his NHL career tipping in a Vernon Fiddler pass. Dallas dominated the final ten minutes of the first period and helped themselves to a 3-1 first period lead.

Second Period

Dallas looked to keep their tendencies for bad second periods behind them this game as this was needed, because Anaheim is one of the best second period teams in the league. Dallas caught breaks early in the period as a double minor was called on Anaheim’s Matt Belesky. Dallas didn’t score on the powerplay opportunity, but they kept Anaheim pinned in their own zone for the majority of the time. Anaheim used the momentum of the penalty kill to counter attack in the Dallas zone. Two powerplay opportunities for the Ducks in the last ten minutes of the period pushed the Anaheim attack, but the Stars penalty kill and Kari Lehtonen completely buckled down and allowed nothing. The Stars were out shot 9-6 in the period, but kept their 3-1 lead intact.

Third Period

Dallas looked to protect the lead and play strong defensive hockey in the final period, Anaheim tried to create offensive chances, but the Stars defense stopped all their attempts and Kari Lehtonen saved all shot attempts. Late period penalties put the nails on the coffin of the Ducks comeback attempt as Dallas was able to win in Anaheim 3-1.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Alex Chiasson who scored his first career NHL goal tonight.
• Get well soon to Lane MacDermid who left early in the first period with a “upper body injury”
• Well Dallas went 2-2-1 against the Pacific Division leading Anaheim Ducks this season.
• Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan were not as effective tonight with Ryan Getzlaf out of the lineup.
• First time since March 23rd that Dallas has allowed 2 or fewer goals.
• Three Stars of the game: 1. Kari Lehtonen 2. Corey Perry 3. Stephane Robidas
• The Stars continue their string of games against the Pacific Division as San Jose is the next stop for the Stars, Puck drops at 3:00 pm.

Wednesday would be the first game for the Stars since the trade deadline, and a completely new looking lineup. They would be facing the Pacific Division leading Anaheim Ducks for the second game of three in a row. The Ducks took the first game Monday in a complete domination of Dallas.

The trading season was an eventful one for the Stars as they said goodbye to Derek Roy, Jaromir Jagr, Tomas Vincour  and Brenden Morrow, all of whom were traded to different teams for prospects and draft picks. With all of these holes in the lineup now the Stars called up highly touted prospects from their AHL team to fill in these holes and a completely new lineup was rolled out by the Stars which would include the season debuts of Alex Chiasson and Lane MacDermid

Line 1:    Nystrom- Benn- Cole

Line 2:    Whitney- Eriksson- Chiasson

Line 3:    Roussel- Eakin- Fraser

Line 4:    MacDermid- Fiddler- Garbutt

The defensive pairings stayed the same for the Stars

Pair 1:    Dillon- Robidas

Pair 2:    Goligoski- Daley

Pair 3:    Rome- Larsen

First Period

A real pace to the game developed early as the Ducks and Stars re-acquainted with each other as division rivals.  A physical tone was led by Aaron Rome as he was not letting Ducks into the Dallas zone without punishing body checks, and fans got to see the skill set of Alex Chiasson who looked NHL ready even for his first game. Dallas would have to face Viktor Fasth again who shut them out on Monday and also did for this period as Fasth saved all of Dallas’ eight shots on goal in the period. Anaheim got the only goal of the first period at the 11:44 mark of the period when Ryan Getzlaf set up former Star Radek Dvorak for his first since returning from the Swiss professional league. The Ducks led 1-0 after one period.

Second Period

Anaheim’s superior lineup took over this period as the Stars battled through out, but the chemistry and skillset of the Ducks overpowered the younger Stars. Dallas’ only penalty of the game resulted in a powerplay goal for the Ducks as Teemu Selanne scored his tenth goal of the season. Dallas still managed to get some looks at Viktor Fasth registering six shots, but Fasth continued his shutout streak against the Stars through two periods. Anaheim added another goal after a lapse in Dallas defense Kyle Palmieri scored goal number eight this season for him as the Ducks ended the second period up 3-0.

Third Period

The period started off as a scare for the Ducks as captain Ryan Getzlaf went down the tunnel into the locker room after a collison with Jamie Benn. With Getzlaf off the ice Dallas took advantage and at the 2:48 mark of the period Eric Cole scored his fourth goal of the season as a Star and seventh of the season. Dallas was unable to build off the momentum of the early period goal and soon Getzlaf eventually returned to the game and at the 10:30 mark of the period finished a beautifully set up play by Corey Perry to score his 13th goal of the season. Dallas continued to play through despite the lead difference and their resilience paid off as Lane MacDermid scored his first career NHL goal at the 18:36 mark of the period. Andrew Cogliano would soon add an empty net goal for the Stars and finished the game off as Anaheim has taken two games of the three game set winning 5-2.

Game Extras

• Loui Eriksson played his first game at center in the NHL and first since he was 14 playing in Sweden
• Viktor Fasth’s shutout streak against the Stars lasted a little over 110 minutes before Cole’s goal tonight.
• Even though Anaheim scored five goals tonight, Brenden Dillon left tonight’s game a +2 rating.
• Selanne’s goal against the Stars tonight was career goal number 40 against Dallas
• Alex Chiasson looked the most impressive of the rookies tonight, using his size and skating ability, and almost scored his first goal off a tip from an Aaron Rome slapshot.
• Congratulations to Lane MacDermid on his first career NHL goal.
• Goligoski registered assist number 19 on the Eric Cole goal, if the Stars were on a regular 82 game schedule, Goligoski would be on pace for 43 assists.
• Three Stars of the game: 1.Ryan Getzlaf 2. Cam Fowler 3. Kyle Palmieri
• The Stars will finish the three game set against the Ducks Friday in Anaheim, puck drops at 9:00 pm

Big news out of the offices of General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk, with the trade deadline approaching Wednesday and two veterans who here highly sought on the trade market Nieuwendyk made the decision to sell this year at the deadline dealing both Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy today. Last night’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks knocks Dallas down to 12th in the Western Conference and the playoffs looking unlikely for a fifth straight season.

Jaromir Jagr was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for two prospects, Lane MacDermid and Cody Payne. Jagr, 41, was the leading point man for Dallas with 26 points (14g, 12a) so far on the season. Jagr was signed as a free agent in the summer to a one year contract to come in and provide a scoring threat on the first line and mentor the youth in the lineup this season. In return Dallas receives Lane MacDermid and Cody Payne. Left winger Lane MacDermid, 23, was drafted by the Bruins in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL entry draft. MacDermid is a big body forward 6’3 205 and likes to use his size and plays a very physical feisty game. In eight career NHL games MacDermid has three fighting majors, and eight fights in the AHL this season. Right winger Cody Payne,19, was drafted by the Bruins in the fifth round of the 2012 entry draft. From the United Kingdom, Payne is currently playing  in the OHL with the Plymouth Whalers where in 66 games Payne has 45 points (24g, 21a). Plymouth is currently in a playoff series against the Owen Sound Attack in the second round of the OHL playoffs.

Dallas also dealt center Derek Roy to the Vancouver Canucks today. Roy,29, was acquired in the summer in exchange for Steve Ott and Adam Pardy to be the much needed second line center. It was stated weeks earlier that extension talks between Roy and the Stars ended, and fans were expecting a trade to happen at some point. So far this season Derek Roy registered 22 points (4g, 18a) for the Stars and played in all situations. In return the Stars will receive Vancouver’s second round pick in the 2013 entry draft and prospect defenseman Kevin Connauton. Connauton, 23, is an offensive defenseman drafted in the third round of the 2009 NHL entry draft by Vancouver. In Connauton’s last year of junior hockey with the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, Connauton produced 72 points (24g, 48a) and is in his third season of professional hockey. So far this season with the Chicago Wolves, Connauton has played 60 games and has 25 points (7g, 18a).

A busy day as it seems the Stars have raised the white flag on this season, the trade deadline is tomorrow and the Stars might not be done as rumors continue to swirl about other possible veterans on the Stars roster.

The final game of the Dallas Stars’ big homestand would be the first of three in a row against the Pacific Division leading Anaheim Ducks. Dallas is still in the hunt for a playoff spot and this week will really test them against one of the best in the west. Glen Gulutzan said that the Stars would be all out today after falling flat against the Kings on Sunday and it looked that way after one period, but the Stars couldn’t provide a full sixty minutes tonight.

First Period

The Dallas Stars set a physical tone in the first period as Jamie Benn, Eric Nystrom, and AHL call up Francis Wathier took a hit on a white jersey whenever they could and made Anaheim work for every inch of ice they got. Dallas looked to create offense as well, Loui Eriksson had the best opportunities for the Stars in the first period as he had a couple of good looks at Anaheim goalie Viktor Fasth.  Anaheim did get shots on Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen, but Lehtonen looked sharp in the beginning. After one period Anaheim outshot Dallas 9-6, but the score was tied 0-0.

Second Period

Dallas kept the pressure on Anaheim in the second period resulting in the Stars earning two shots on the powerplay, which they didn’t convert on, but they created some great opportunities. Soon after Anaheim received their first shot on the powerplay off a Stephane Robidas hooking minor, and the offense ignited for the Ducks. The first Duck goal was on the powerplay as Cam Fowler and Ryan Getzlaf set Bobby Ryan up for an excellent shot which he fired past Kari Lehtonen for his tenth goal of the season. A little over two minutes later at the 12:52 mark of the period the Ducks struck again as Bobby Ryan from behind the Dallas net found a streaking Corey Perry and set Perry up for goal number twelve this season. The Ducks final goal of the period came at the 15:02 mark of the period as Matt Belesky finished his own play he created with a backhand shot giving the Ducks a 3-0 lead after two periods.

Third Period

Dallas had opportunities to get back into the game throughout the third period including two chances on the powerplay, but couldn’t get any offense going. Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne added an empty net goal at the end of the game to give Anaheim a dominant 4-0 victory over Dallas to end their five game homestand.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Stu Barnes who was announced as a member of the 20th anniversary team
• An attempted April Fools prank by the Stars in which they were unveiling their “new jerseys” which were just the old Mooterus jerseys did not go well with the fans tonight.
• Season debut of Francis Wathier as he was recalled to bring some size and toughness to the Stars lineup
• Tough not to notice the positive impact Sheldon Souray brings to the Ducks defensive core.
• Anaheim’s best players: Selanne, Getzlaf, Ryan, and Perry combined for six points tonight.
• Official game attendance: 13,748
• Three Stars of the Game chosen by Bruce Levine of KTCK 1310 The Ticket: 1. Bobby Ryan 2. Viktor Fasth 3. Ryan Getzlaf
• The Stars will travel to Anaheim to take on these same Ducks on Wednesday. Puck drops at 9:00 pm

Photo: Jerome Miron

Dallas with a big win against the Wild on Friday kept their playoff hopes alive entering today’s game. Dallas sat ninth in the conference just one point out of the eight spot in the conference. A win against Los Angeles would be huge for the Stars and they are very capable of doing so, as they have beat LA in their two previous meetings this season, and Los Angeles was coming off a game Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild.

First Period

The start was a rough one for the Stars as it only took 25 seconds for the Kings to get on the board, Jeff Carter shot a backhand that slowly floated past Kari Lehtonen, who didn’t even see the puck. The period did not go well for the Stars as Los Angeles dominated them in all aspects. The Stars were outshot 13-4 and on their best scoring opportunities they missed the net. Kari Lehtonen was a mistake eraser in the first, but his offense couldn’t get anything going as the Stars were lucky to be down 1-0 after the first period.

Second Period

The second wasn’t much better for the Stars, Los Angeles kept the puck in the Dallas zone for most of the period, and when Dallas had offensive opportunities they couldn’t make passes and they struggled to get shots on Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Bernier. Dallas’ first shot of the period didn’t come until the 13:16 mark of the period and they made it count as Alex Goligoski made a Zubov-like pass to Jamie Benn who went right to Bernier and slipped a backhand shot five hole to tie the game at one. Dallas managed to get three more shots off by the period’s end, but at this point the shots were 31-8 in favor of the Kings as Lehtonen kept the Stars in the game after two.

Third Period

It looked as if Dallas was just hoping for overtime this game as they just didn’t seem to have it. Los Angeles kept them pinned in their zone often and it eventually cost them, as a bad pass by Tomas Vincour turned into a turnover and Kyle Clifford was able to set up Brad Richardson for his first goal of the season. It went from bad to worse as just 1:09 later LA added another goal as the Kings crashed the net on an offensive attack and Justin Williams got the goal, giving the Kings a 3-1 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining in the period. Dallas got an opportunity to get back in the game as Mike Richards took a penalty midway through the period, and Dallas took advantage on the powerplay as Ray Whitney scored his seventh goal of the season. Dallas offensive zone problems continued and Jonathan Bernier only faced 15 Dallas shots the entire game as the LA Kings skate out of Dallas victorious, 3-2 in regulation.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Brett Hull, who was named to the Dallas Stars 20th anniversary team
• HAPPY EASTER FROM KEEP DALLAS PESKY!
• Stars’ center Vernon Fiddler was not in today’s game, due to an injury he suffered against the Wild on Friday. The first game Fiddler has missed as a member of the Stars.
• Toby Petersen was recalled from the AHL and played in Fiddler’s spot today, his last NHL game was exactly one year ago today against the San Jose Sharks.
• Nobody on the Stars got over two shots on goal, Jake Muzzin led the Kings with five.
• Official game attendance: 15,719
• Three Stars of the Game chosen by Mark Stepneski of DallasStars.com: 1. Brad Richardson 2. Kari Lehtonen 3. Anze Kopitar
• The homestand finishes for the Stars tomorrow as the Anaheim Ducks come to town for the first of three in a row against the Ducks. Puck drops at 7:30