It was an ugly night all the way around in the Staples Center Monday night, for winners and losers.
The Los Angeles Kings found themselves giving the puck away most of the night and it cost them the game in a 6-4 loss to the Dallas Stars.
Dallas coach Lindy Ruff wanted multiple scorers and got it in win over Kings in LA – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Four of the goals came from miscues, fumbling, carelessness, and downright laziness as the Stars capitalized on nearly every one of the giveaways/takeaways.
WATCH: All Stars vs. Kings highlights
That’s not to say the Stars were much better.
Kari Lehtonen was dreadful to his glove side most of the night and ended up with the hook early in the third period.
Antti Niemi came into the game in relief and made one save for the win.
In the LA net, Peter Budaj (17 saves) did not make it to the end of the game either as he was pulled after giving up the game-winner to Jiri Hudler in the third period.
“I was going to pull him after the [Hudler] goal,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “But out of respect for Jeff, I wanted him to warm up, so I told him, ‘Next whistle.'”
Jeff Zatkoff came into the game with about ten minutes left in regulation.
“[Kari Lehtonen] has had some tough times. It just got to the point where I had to pull the trigger, and I thought Antti [Niemi] gave us a couple of saves. It’s hard. We’re battling for our lives. I know he’s battling too,” Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff said of the goalie change.
Patrick Sharp added an empty-net goal to seal it for Dallas.
“You don’t expect to score six against a team like Los Angeles,” Sharp said. “I think the biggest goal was the first one. I thought the Kings came out and were really taking it to us.
“We held the fort as best we could, and Ritchie scoring that first one settled us down a little bit. I thought we had a good second period and a wild finish.”
Nick Shore, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, and Drew Doughty scored for Los Angeles who fell to 20-17-4.
“We have to put together a string of wins here. We need to take care of business at home. We weren’t nearly as consistent as we needed to be,” Kopitar said after the loss.
WATCH: All Stars vs. Kings highlights
Brett Ritchie, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Oleksiak, and Devin Shore added goals for the Stars who pushed their record to 17-16-8.
“I said before the game, ‘I need three guys to score,'” Ruff said. “I said I wanted Ritchie to score, I wanted Sharp to score, and I wanted Hudler to score. The coaches said, ‘Why didn’t you put [Cody] Eakin in there too?'”
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