Ryan Smyth helped the
Los Angeles Kings put an end to a three-game losing streak on Monday night.
The gritty forward scored and added two assists during a three-goal second period as L.A. got back on the right track with a 4-1 win against the
Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center.
The victory was just what the doctor ordered for the Kings, who needed a team of them over the past week as several players battled flu-like symptoms.
''We turned the corner (Sunday) with all the flu,'' Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. ''We looked a little road-weary in the last 10 minutes of the first period, then we had a very good second period.''
Jamie Benn scored the lone goal for Dallas, which came with 2:42 remaining in the first period on a gorgeous wrist shot off the left wing that beat
Jonathan Quick to the far side.
But the Kings responded with arguably their best period of the season in the second, when they outshot the Stars 18-4. Smyth tied the game via the power play at the 5:17 mark on his sixth goal.
''I thought we started out on a really good road trip, then we went into a little funk,'' said Smyth, as L.A. opened the trip with wins in St. Louis and Long Island before dropping three in a row. ''To end it off like this gives us some confidence going back home.''
Los Angeles then jumped out to a two-goal lead as
Justin Williams and
Anze Kopitar scored just 2:33 apart. Williams made it 2-1 on a deflection at 13:26 before Kopitar beat Marty Turco for his fifth goal of the season with 4:01 left in the second.
''I thought just that we needed one goal to break through,'' Williams said. ''They were up 1-0 and being stingy and we had not much going on. But we got one goal, and then two more.''
Wayne Simmonds iced the victory for the Kings with an empty-net goal with 1:37 left in regulation.
Dallas (3-2-3) went 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Kings converted once on five chances.
"We just keep trying to work on the consistency factor," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. "We had 10 minutes in the second period where we really lost our focus, and it ended up costing us the game."
-- Brian Compton, NHL.com
Material from wire services and broadcast media was used in this report.
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