Khudobin makes 30 saves, Stars defeat Kings for fifth straight win

LOS ANGELES --The Dallas Stars got their fifth straight comeback win, 2-1 against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Wednesday.

The Stars (25-14-4) tied their record for consecutive comeback victories (Jan. 23-30, 2006) during their second-longest winning streak of the season. Dallas won a season-high seven straight games Nov. 13-25.
"Ideally, we'd like to play with the lead in the first period and score the first goal, but I think it's a good quality to have as a team that if you get down a goal or two you don't feel like you're out of it," forward Blake Comeau said after the Stars allowed the first goal for the fourth straight game.
"We've been finding ways to win coming from behind. It's an important thing for successful teams to be able to do, but also we'd like to get out with the lead and start playing with the first goal."
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Kings highlights]
Jamie Benn and Comeau scored 37 seconds apart, and Anton Khudobin made 30 saves to win his fifth straight start for Dallas, which is 10-3-1 in the past 14 games.
Anze Kopitar scored his 328th goal to pass Bernie Nicholls for fourth in Los Angeles history, but the Kings (17-24-4) lost their third straight game and are 2-6-1 in their past nine. Jonathan Quick made 30 saves.
"We're playing really good teams and we've got to be able to find a way to get that next goal or be able to hold teams off," Kings forward Tyler Toffoli said. "It's definitely frustrating, but we just got to grow as a team here and find ways to win these games."
Benn tied it 1-1 with his fourth power-play goal at 14:46 of the second period. Tyler Seguin faked a slap shot to get Quick off balance before passing to Benn for a sharp-angle shot into an open net.

Comeau put Dallas ahead 2-1 at 15:23 on a slap shot from the right circle on a breakout created by Esa Lindell's lob pass.
"That was a fantastic shot," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "That puck's going in against any goalie in this league at any time."
Kopitar scored on a one-timer from Toffoli to put the Kings up 1-0 2:01 into the first period.
Alex Iafallo had an assist to extend his point streak to an NHL career-best eight games. He has nine points (four goals, five assists) in that span, the longest point streak by a Kings player this season.
Seguin said the goal was the result of miscommunication between himself and Alexander Radulov over who was responsible for covering Kopitar. However, Seguin was pleased with how the Stars responded after Kopitar's 16th goal.

"It's kind of how we're built," Seguin said. "We definitely last long in games and get hard on the forecheck. I think tonight [there] was kind of nothing pretty about it. Just kind of greased out two points coming off a long break for us, found a way to win and move on."
Los Angeles created chances in the third period, including when Quick was pulled for an extra attacker for the final 1:42, but could not score the tying goal.
"This team just checked the hell out of us, and they've done that to a lot of teams," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "They just choke everything off."
Kopitar was shaken up in the third period when he was knocked down by a check from Jamie Oleksiak and Khudobin fell on top him. Kopitar made his way slowly to the bench, where he spoke to a trainer, but was able to return.

They said it

"We seem to fall behind early, and I wish there was one reason for that happening. We could fix it. It just seems to be one major mistake and it ends up in the back of the net." -- Stars coach Rick Bowness
"We've scored the first shift two games in a row. Obviously it would be nice to keep building on it throughout the game and score more than one and give ourselves a little bit of a cushion to play with more of a lead." -- Kings forward Tyler Toffoli on playing with Anze Kopitar and Alex Iafallo

Need to know

Comeau has three points (two goals, one assist) during a three-game point streak. … Lindell had two assists, giving him seven during a four-game streak. … The Stars are the second team to have five straight comeback wins this season. The Edmonton Oilers did it from Oct. 2-12. … Kings forward Blake Lizotte sustained a lower-body injury in the first period. McLellan said he will not travel with the team for their game at the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

What's next

Stars:At the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, PRIME, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Kings:At the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSM-RM, FS-W, NHL.TV)