Stars reap rewards of good play in victory over Kings

The Dallas Stars played well for a second straight night in Southern California, and this time they got rewarded.
Kari Lehtonen stopped all 18 shots he faced, and Tyler Seguin's goal midway through the third period snapped a scoreless tie as the Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0, at Staples Center on Thursday night.

WATCH: [All Stars vs. Kings highlights]
The Stars, who were coming off a 2-0 loss at Anaheim the night before in which they dominated play, got off to a slow start Thursday in Los Angeles, but took over the game in the second period and then finally broke through in the third.
"We've played so well the last two nights we needed to get rewarded," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "As well as we played tonight, we probably played better last night, and we needed to start seeing rewards for this good play and getting that goal just was a big relief for everybody. It freed up the tension that we'd been dealing with the last two games."

Lehtonen and Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick were both riding shutouts midway through the third period until Seguin snapped the scoreless tie. Seguin won an offensive zone draw back to defenseman Greg Pateryn and then deflected Pateryn's shot from the point into the net to give Dallas a 1-0 lead at 11:33 of the third.
"It's a play I've seen San Jose do a lot. [Brent] Burns to [Joe] Pavelski," Seguin said. "I told Patty if I win this job clean I'm going to spin off and look for my stick, I meant my blade, but he found my shaft, and I'm happy it went in."
Stars forward Alexander Radulov sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:00 remaining.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back the Stars were going to need a strong game from goaltender Lehtonen, and they got it. Lehtonen's 18-save effort resulted in his first shutout of the season.

Lehtonen improved to 11-5-1 on the season, and he ranks fourth in the NHL with a 2.14 goals against average and tenth with a .923 save percentage. Lehtonen has had a reduced role with the arrival of Ben Bishop this season, but he's been superb when called upon.
"If the coach was a little smarter he'd probably play him more," Hitchcock said.
"It's always fun to play, especially now when I haven't played that much," Lehtonen said. "I've used this and cherished those moments even more. Try to battle there and help the team, be part of the game and it's been fun."
The win helped salvage a three-game California road trip for the Stars, who had started with losses to San Jose and Anaheim. The Stars (35-22-4) remained in third place in the Central Division, one point ahead of Minnesota and two points ahead of St. Louis.

The Kings, who were back home after a seven-game road trip, had a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 33-23-5 on the season.
"I thought we obviously got off to a really good start in the hockey game. We got pucks in behind them, we drew penalties, we were moving our feet and then second period, long change," said Kings coach John Stevens. "Dallas wants that puck turned over just inside the blue line as much as they do below the goal line and where we were we just didn't execute very well, so we made the first play, but they get you on the next play. So credit to them, they checked well."
Lehtonen was sharp in the first as the Kings had the better of play, outshooting the Stars 8-2. Quick came up big in the second with the Stars dictating play and outshooting the Kings 13-5. Quick had a couple of quality stops on Radek Faksa, a nice pad stop on Mattias Janmark and turned away a close-range bid by John Klingberg.
That got the game to the third where Lehtonen continued to stand tall, Seguin broke the scoreless tie and Radulov sealed the deal with the empty-net goal to end the three-game road trip on a positive note.

Notes

What's Next

The Stars return to Dallas for a five-game homestand starting with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. They also will play Calgary, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, and Ottawa.

Stars Lineup

Remi Elie - Tyler Seguin - Mattias Janmark
Devin Shore - Jamie Benn - Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Gemel Smith - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Marc Methot - Stephen Johns
Kari Lehtonen
Ben Bishop
Scratched:Julius Honka
Injured: Martin Hanzal (lower body)

This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneskiis an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.