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LOS ANGELES — The Kings extended their season-best winning streak to four games on Wednesday night, turning the tables on the Dallas Stars to win, 3-2.
With a chance to prove their run of good form and impressive defensive record could hold up against one of the top contenders in the Western Conference, the Kings rallied from a two-goal first-period deficit at Crypto.com Arena, scoring three unanswered thanks to a trio of Canadian newcomers: Tanner Jeannot, Joel Edmundson and Warren Foegele.
Foegele gave the Kings the lead at 2:22 of the third period on a sequence that saw him make inadvertent contact with an official in the Kings’ end of the ice before picking up the puck behind the Dallas net. Foegele skated from one side to the other and doubled back, putting the puck on his forehand for a wrap-around under the stick of Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger.
The game-winner, assisted by Jeannot for his first multi-point game with the Kings, was Foegele’s seventh goal since joining the Kings as a free agent from the Edmonton Oilers.
Kings netminder David Rittich received the start while Darcy Kuemper (available to play for the first time since mid-November after being activated from injured reserve on Wednesday) watched from the bench as the Czech goalkeeper made 26 saves for his 101st career win and 10th of the season.
“We had to gather ourselves a little bit,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller said. “The players had to find out how hard they were willing to compete the rest of the way. We hadn’t seen that team yet this year. They came as advertised.
“The takeaway for us on this is just you gotta be able to compete and we got rewarded for competing, not necessarily for how well we played.”
During the last 20 minutes, the Stars pressured Rittich, but he was sharp while stopping 10 shots on goal, including a few loose pucks in and around the crease that he handled well.
“Boy, he played really good tonight,” Hiller said. “I don’t know that he played a better game than he did tonight that I can remember this season. I thought that was his best.”
The Kings shut down a Dallas power play late in the third to seal the win after Rittich was called for tripping.
While the Kings closed strong, they did not start that way following a bit of rest between games.
Forward Adrian Kempe’s needless tripping penalty 40 seconds into the game set his team back less than two minutes later, when Dallas forward Wyatt Johnston’s fifth goal of the season came on the power play.
Jason Robertson and Jamie Benn helped set up Johnston’s goal at 2:34 of the first period, which was finished directly in front of Rittich and delivered the Stars’ fifth power-play goal in their past seven games.
Johnston skated into empty space near the slot and got off a shot before jamming in his own rebound. The 21-year-old Canadian has points in five straight games against the Kings, including a goal in each of the last four meetings.
Dallas doubled its first-period advantage at 13:40 on a wicked wrist shot by its second-leading scorer. From the top of the right circle, forward Mason Marchment gunned the puck over Rittich’s right shoulder for his 10th goal of the season.
But the visitors’ lead disappeared by the end of the second period.
First, Jeannot halved the deficit at 4:40 off a return-the-favor assist from Foegele, his sixth.
As the Kings searched to find the game, Jeannot’s own shoot-rebound-goal moment came when his backhander missed the Stars’ net but bounced neatly back to him off the boards. The Canadian’s third of the season was tucked inside the right post.
“They came into our building and kind of worked us in the first period,” Jeannot said. “I don’t think any team wants that to happen. So instead we just regrouped, came out for the second, had a better second and continued it into the third.”
Edmundson’s fourth goal with the Kings leveled the contest at 15:38. Off a faceoff in the left circle won by Anze Kopitar, Kyle Burroughs touched the puck to Edmundson, whose slap shot caromed off a Dallas defender past Oettinger.
“I’m just finding a way right now,” he said. “I think it’s a lot of credit to the forwards getting on the net. I’m not scoring any of those from the point without a screen.”
Edmundson lauded the Kings’ other goal scorers, Foegele and Jeannot.
“They work their ass off every shift,” he said. “Every team needs guys like that and sometimes they come up clutch and we needed them.”
Kopitar’s assist on the Edmundson equalizer was his 22nd of the season, good for 30 points through 26 games, moving him past Mike Modano and Johnny Bucyk on the career assists list with 814. The Slovenian is tied with Gilbert Perreault for 31st all-time, one behind Evgeni Malkin.
Stifling Dallas (16-9-0, 32 points) after a choppy first period, the Kings (15-8-3, 33 points) exhibited their improved defense the rest of the way, doing something they failed to do in three meetings against the Stars last season.
“We obviously want to play a lot better than the way we did, but we’ll take the two points and we know if we get up we can shut the door,” Edmundson said. “A lot of that goes to big Dave back there. He played a great game.”
The Kings can make it five straight wins on Saturday when they host the top team in the league (by points), the Minnesota Wild, before their longest road trip of the season, a seven-game, 15-day excursion covering nearly half of the Eastern Conference.
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