In Dallas, the visiting the Los Angeles Kings were buoyed by a strong performance from goalie Jack Campbell who made 29 saves to backstop the Kings to a 2-1 win over the Stars.
Campbell was drafted by the Stars in 2010 and traded to the Kings in 2016.
“I’m pretty sure everyone in the hockey world knows my story, how it didn’t work out here,” the 27-year-old said. “Nothing more I wanted at 18 (years old) or 19, 20, 21, 22 is to be the franchise goalie here. Didn’t happen, but it’s great to come back here.”
The Kings’ offense was created by Dustin Brown and Carl Hagelin.
It was Hagelin’s first goal with the Kings.
Dustin Brown had a goal in LA win in Dallas – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
“He battled for it, came back from injury, and things haven’t gone quite as well for him since he’s been back,” Kings head coach Willie Desjardins said, “so it was nice to see him get one.”
Esa Lindell scored the only Dallas goal.
“We’re all looking for the pretty play until that third period there, and we started simplifying and getting deep and going to hard areas,” Tyler Seguin said. “We were better in the third, but we’ve got to be more dirty on that.”
The Stars dropped to 23-21-6.
The mess that the Stars on the edge of becoming flared in the first period when Alexander Radulov was benched for the back half of the frame.
“I wasn’t playing good. I talked back to Coach, and he basically sat me until the end of the period,” Radulov said. “It’s the right decision. I can’t do that. It’s been an issue in my career, but I’m going to learn from it. I’m going to be better, try to not make those mistakes again.”
Teams need reminders of who the boss is on occasion.
“Every decision we make is what’s best for the Dallas Stars,” Dallas head coach Jim Montgomery aid. “And at that moment, I thought that was best for the Dallas Stars. … When you’re struggling to score goals, it (the benching) is hard to do with a player of that caliber.”
LA improved to 19-25-4.
“I backed up a few times here. It kind of allowed me to settle in a little bit before I played my first game,” Campbell said.
[WATCH: All Kings vs. Stars highlights]
Ben Bishop made 17 saves in the loss.
“We had tons of chances in the third, so we’ve learned our lesson and realized that’s how we have to play from the start of the game to the finish,” the Stars’ Blake Comeau said after the loss.
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