Kings left wing Kevin Fiala celebrates his goal during the second period of their game against the Dallas Stars on Friday night at Crypto. Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque celebrates after scoring during the third period of a game against the Kings, Friday, Feb. The Kings won, Fiala added an assist, as well as a shootout goal, and Phillip Danault had two assists.
David Rittich stopped 26 shots. Jake Oettinger made 33 saves. The Kings won for the 12th time in 13 opportunities at home, while the Stars have now followed their five-game surge with a pair of losses in Southern California after falling to the Ducks on Tuesday. They had beaten the Kings by three or more goals in four straight meetings, but the Kings have now defeated Dallas in both matchups this season.
Adrian Kempe scored to open the shootout and Fiala followed by converting to put Dallas down with the only two goals in the shootout. It was apropos that Fiala finished the job, given that he had come an eyelash from deciding the result in OT. Fiala appeared to win the game with Kopitar had not scored since his two-goal performance against Philadelphia on Dec. The Stars had taken their first lead of the night with consecutive markers by Bourque and Duchene Duchene scored his second goal of the game when he skated directly at Doughty and roofed a wrist shot far side without breaking stride.
After 40 minutes, the Kings led thanks to a goal-of-the-year candidate and a gritty effort to regain the lead following an opportunistic score by Dallas. Byfield recovered the puck just after Dallas took full possession of it, keying a sequence that set him up with a one-timer trailing the play.
His 14th goal broke a tie at that resulted from the teams trading goals at the and marks. The Stars pulled even for the second time after they won a protracted board battle and made that possession count. Fiala now has 21 goals for the season and five in his past three games as part of a stretch with 13 points in 11 games. Momentum shifted from the Kings to the Stars late in the first period, allowing the visitors to head to the dressing room with a stalemate. Dallas piled up the final six shots of the frame and forged together a sequence in which they had six shot attempts in nine seconds with Rittich under siege.
