Kings lose to Stars, fail to climb in Pacific

LOS ANGELES -- Jamie Benn scored a natural hat trick in 5:17 in the first period for the Dallas Stars in a 4-2 win that kept the Los Angeles Kings from moving up to third place in the Pacific Division at Staples Center on Saturday.

The Kings (45-29-8) finished as the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round.
\[WATCH: All Stars vs. Kings highlights\]
"Except the first period tonight, I think we've been playing pretty well the last couple games," Los Angeles center Adrian Kempe said. "We got to bring it now. We need every single guy in the locker room. We need everybody to be at their best now. The fun starts right now. Hopefully, everybody is ready for it."
Alexander Radulov had three assists, and Kari Lehtonen made 34 saves for the Stars (42-32-8), who missed the playoffs for a second consecutive year and the third time in four seasons.
"These last few games have been tough to play, but you just have to come out here and do your job," Lehtonen said. "Happy we got a win tonight, but it doesn't bring too much joy after the whole thing."
Defenseman Alec Martinez scored two goals, and Jonathan Quick made 14 saves for the Kings, who lost for the first time in five games at home.

Benn made it 2-0 at 8:40, batting the puck out of midair from close range.
"Just right place, right time," he said. "I was fortunate enough to make some contact on it."
Benn scored his second goal at 11:35 to put the Stars in front 3-0. Quick made a save against Radulov after Oscar Fantenberg lost the puck in front of his own net, but Benn was able to tap the rebound into an open net.

Benn completed his second hat trick in three games, the fourth of his NHL career, at 13:57 when he tipped Radulov's pass by Quick for his 36th goal.
It was the fastest hat trick in Stars history.
Benn ended the season on a five-game point streak (eight goals, two assists).
"You hate to look back and wonder what you could have done different, but we played some pretty good hockey most of the year and didn't raise our level when it needed to be raised," Benn said. "And here we are out of the playoffs now."
Devin Shore gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 6:41. He faked a shot and scored with a backhand after poke-checking the puck away from Kings defenseman Christian Folin.

"I really liked the start of the hockey game. What I didn't like is we mismanaged the puck severely and gave up easy goals," Kings coach John Stevens said. "You can't blame our goalie on any of 'em. I think if you had two goalies in the net, you might not get a save there because we had full possession of the puck on three of those plays."
Martinez scored at 3:42 of the second period to cut the Stars lead to 4-1. He made it 4-2 at 12:27, one second after a Kings power play expired.
Martinez had two goals and two assists during a three-game point streak to end the regular season.

Goal of the game

Benn's goal at 13:57 of the first period.

Save of the game

Lehtonen stopping Anze Kopitar at 16:02 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Benn's goal at 8:40 of the first period.

They said it

"I've been his teammate ever since he came in the League, and we've been through a lot together. It's nice to see him get a win here in the last game and we'll see what happens."-- Stars captain Jamie Benn on goalie Kari Lehtonen, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1
"Obviously, that's not a good enough start. Quite frankly, it's embarrassing. We left our goalie out to dry, and that's not fair to him." -- Kings defenseman Alec Martinez on the first period

Need to know

Dallas defenseman John Klingberg closed the season on a four-game point streak (one goal, four assists). ... Klingberg's 67 points were tied for second among NHL defensemen with Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks behind John Carlson of the Washington Capitals (68). … Quick and the Kings won the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the NHL (202) for the second time in five seasons (2013-14). ... Los Angeles forward Torrey Mitchell (flu) missed his second straight game.

What's next

Stars: Season over
Kings: At the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of Western Conference First Round, TBA