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After ending an eight-game winless drought, the Los Angeles Kings aim to keep the momentum going when they visit the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
The Kings were 0-4-4 during the eight-game slide, including an 0-2-2 mark over the first four games of their six-game road trip. It was a sharp downturn for a team that previously looked like a Stanley Cup contender, but some of the old form returned in Monday’s 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
“This team is a resilient group … and it’s an 82-game season,” forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said after the win. “There’s going to be adversity and adversity’s great for a team. You don’t want to deal with it for the first time in the playoffs, you want to deal as the season goes on.”
Dubois had a goal and an assist in the third period Monday, as the Kings pulled ahead with four goals in the final frame.
Those kinds of late surges have been familiar for Dallas this season. The Stars lead the league with 61 third-period goals — the second-highest total for a team in any period this season — and they have one of the league’s best records (5-9-1) when trailing after two periods.
Dallas displayed some of that late magic in Saturday’s 3-1 road win over the Chicago Blackhawks. The Stars trailed 1-0 at the second intermission but line changes from coach Pete DeBoer sparked the offense to three unanswered goals in the third period.
“I thought our best players through the first two periods were our fourth-line guys, Craig Smith, Sam Steel and (Radek) Faksa,” DeBoer said. “So we wanted to get those guys sprinkled throughout some of the other lines, just because I thought they had the best legs. … I thought they made a difference on whatever line I put each of them on.”
The victory came at a cost, however, as goalie Scott Wedgewood left midway through the second period due to a lower-body injury. With Wedgewood questionable for Tuesday, Jake Oettinger is likely to play in what would be his third straight game following a 12-game injury absence due a lower-body injury of his own.
Los Angeles forward Blake Lizotte (lower-body injury) is also questionable after an early exit in the Carolina game.
Since David Rittich faced the Hurricanes, Cam Talbot is likely to get the start in goal for Los Angeles on Tuesday. Talbot’s great early-season play earned him an All-Star nod, but the goaltender is 0-4-3 with a .899 save percentage in his last seven games.
The Kings still have one of the league’s best away records (14-4-3) despite their recent slump. The Stars sport an impressive 13-8-2 mark on home ice.
Phillip Danault has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a five-game points streak.
Stars scoring leader Jason Robertson has six points (three goals, three assists) during his five-game points streak.
The Kings are 1-3-2 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
Dallas and Los Angeles are two of the NHL’s top penalty-killing teams, but both power-play units have also been rolling. The Kings are 6-for-14 with the extra attacker over their last five games, while the Stars are 7-for-22 on power plays in their last nine games.
Tuesday’s game is the first of three regular-season meetings between the teams. The Stars are 9-3-0 in their last 12 games with Los Angeles, dating back to the 2017-18 season.
–Field Level Media
