In Los Angeles, the Kings’ Kevin Fiala scored in the opening stanza on Saturday to stake LA to a 1-0 lead over the visiting Dallas Stars. 
That was the end of the Kings’ offense on the night as the Stars hit for doubles in the middle frame and the third period for a 4-1 win.
Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves in the win.
“Coming down the stretch, we know what we want to get out of ourselves,” Wedgewood said. “It’s now time to turn up the gears and get the best out of ourselves down the stretch.”
The Stars improved to 40-17-9 off their fifth straight win.
Fiala scored 26 seconds into the game for the early lead to LA.
“When [an early goal] happens, I think you just have to pretend like it didn’t happen really,” Los Angeles’ Matt Roy said. “You sort of start the game over and play like it’s 0-0. You can’t take things easy or anything like that.”
Radek Faksa tied the game, 1-1, midway through the second period.
“I thought our fourth line tonight might have been our best line, which is a testament to the depth,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “They scored the first goal of the game for us, which is a huge goal. We got contributions from those guys all night.”
Dallas’ Jason Robertson put the Stars up, 2-1, 18 seconds off a rebound.
“It’s always fun doing that,” Robertson said. “Should do it every time I play here. It’s really neat that they can do that and see the support of all of the people here, and just trying to do my thing and be a good role model and enjoy the night.”
The Kings dropped to 32-20-11.
“They played a playoff-style game and we did not, and therefore that’s the result,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “To beat a team like that, you got to play a playoff-style game. We didn’t have it in us.”
In the third period, Wyatt Johnston hit off the power play for a 3-1 lead at 6:47.
Joe Pavelski hit an empty net at 16:20 for the 4-1 final count on the scoreboard.
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