Stars close out season with win over Kings

The Dallas Stars closed out the 2017-18 season on a positive note, defeating the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2, at Staples Center on Saturday night. Jamie Benn scored his second hat trick in three games, and Kari Lehtonen stopped 34 shots for Dallas.
The Stars jumped on the Kings early to build a 4-0 lead in the first period behind a goal by Devin Shore and then three straight by Benn. Dallas survived a strong push by the Kings, who cut the lead to 4-2 in the second, and then played a solid third to maintain the two-goal lead in the third.

WATCH: [All Stars vs. Kings highlights]
"It was one of those games where everything was clicking early," said Benn. "It was definitely nice to get the win."
The Stars, who went 2-1-0 on their final road trip of the season, finished 42-32-8 for 92 points, three points shy of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"It was hard, certainly disappointing that a week ago we found ourselves out of the playoffs," said defenseman Dan Hamhuis.
"So, we wanted to enjoy this road trip and the best way to enjoy it was to play well and try and get some wins, certainly nice to get two against tough teams."
The Stars, who had high expectations coming into the season, were derailed by a late-season slide that included an eight-game losing streak that began with a 0-4-2 road trip.
"We're right there, we were ahead of the game there for three-quarters of the season then we ran into a bad stretch of 10, 11 games that took us out of it," said Hamhuis.

The Stars have missed the playoffs the last two seasons and three of the last four.
"It hurts more than last year," said center Tyler Seguin. "Last year we were out for 15-plus games, and this year there was a lot of hope. It's a bit of a shocker, that road trip, and that stretch. It's going to take some time to process it."
Alec Martinez scored both goals for the Kings (45-29-8), who finished in the first wild-card spot in the West and will take on Vegas in the first round of the playoffs.
"I think it will be a really good matchup," Martinez said. "[The Golden Knights] are a really fast team. They've had a lot of success this year. It's a tough building to play in, especially with the playoff atmosphere. That arena is going to be buzzing. But so will the Staples Center. It's two good hockey clubs going at it."

The Stars blitzed the Kings in the first period, scoring four times in a 7:16 span to build a 4-0 lead. Shore struck first for Dallas, poking the puck away from Kings defenseman Christian Folin, breaking in alone on net and beating Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick with a backhand shot 6:41 into the game.
Benn then scored three goals in 5:17 for his second hat trick in three games. Benn made it 2-0 at the 8:40 mark. After an Esa Lindell shot rebounded off the end boards, Benn batted the puck out of midair and past Quick. The Stars extended the lead to 3-0 when Benn scored from close range during a scramble in front of Quick at 11:35 of the first. The Dallas captain then redirected an Alexander Radulov pass into the net at the 13:57 mark to push the Dallas lead to 4-0.
The Kings pushed back in the second period, outshooting the Stars 18-2 and scoring twice to cut the lead to 4-2. Martinez scored off a blast from the slot to make it a 4-1 game at 3:42 of the second. Martin struck again at the 12:27 mark of the second, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle just after a Los Angeles power play had expired and it was 4-2.
And it stayed 4-2 the rest of the second period and through the third as the Stars wrapped up the 2017-18 season.

Notes

Stars Lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Gemel Smith - Devin Shore
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Marc Methot - Greg Pateryn
Dan Hamhuis - Julius Honka
Kari Lehtonen
Mike McKenna
Scratched: None
Injured:Ben Bishop (knee), Stephen Johns (possible concussion), Remi Elie (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski is 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.