In Dallas Tuesday, the Los Angeles Kings were looking to come off the All-Star break with a big effort and got one from Darcy Kuemper who made 28 saves for a 3-0 win over the Stars.
“I think we’re well aware of that tough skid we were on, and we put in a lot of work and film and practice and correcting things we’ve been doing wrong,” Kuemper said. “I think the last couple games, you can see the commitment in the little puck battles and defensively their awareness of where their guys are.”
The LA defense kicked in all the offense on the night as Paul LaDue (first NHL goal), Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez struck for the Kings.
“It was unbelievable. I played a few games last year and didn’t get it, but it felt even better to get the win and contribute to the win. And having my dad (Jay) here, it was even more special, so it was just great,” LaDue said. “I kind of saw a spot open and just tried to shoot to that part of the net, and it ended up making it through a few sticks and into the net. I can’t describe that feeling. It was great.”
LA improved to 27-18-5 with the win as Kuemper backs up Jonathan Quick in the nets.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to play a couple in a row, especially exciting to get the start in this one with the dads here (for the fathers trip),” Kuemper said. “I wanted to take advantage of it, and the guys made it so easy in front of me.”
For the Kings, they passed a tough test in a strong Dallas team coming off the break.
“I think you’re playing teams like Dallas, they’re a very good hockey team and they don’t give up a lot and they can really get pressure on you with the forecheck. I thought they did that early, but I thought our guys did a really good job of just competing on the wall. That was everybody,” LA head coach John Stevens said after the win.
[WATCH: All Kings vs. Stars highlights]
Ben Bishop made 39 saves for Dallas in the loss.
“I think every single person in this room, in this building tonight knew tonight was not a very good hockey game from us,” Bishop said. “You don’t want to get on the wrong side of the snowball. You’ve got to fix it now. We realize it’s two games in a row, and it’s not acceptable, especially at home. These fans are paying good money to watch us play and that was pretty pathetic.”
The Stars dropped to 28-19-4 with the loss.
“I don’t know what the reason is for it. There should be no reason or excuse. I mean, every team is the same after [the All-Star] break. They had the weekend off too, and I want to say we weren’t prepared. The coaches did their jobs, we just didn’t do ours,” the Stars’ Tyler Seguin said after the loss.
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