LOS ANGELES (AP) – Milan Lucic scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Anze Kopitar added two assists to his recent scoring tear during the Los Angeles Kings’ 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.
Vincent Lecavalier scored a power-play goal for the third straight game, and Drew Doughty also scored in Los Angeles’ ninth win in 12 games since Christmas. Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the Kings, who opened a 12-point lead atop the Pacific Division despite playing in their third game in four days.
Ales Hemsky and Cody Eakin scored first-period goals for the Stars, who have lost a season-worst four straight and seven of eight. Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 shots in the playoff contenders’ first meeting of the season.
Dallas had won four of its last five meetings with the Kings, but Lucic got his 12th goal of the season with 13:43 to play after a masterful sequence of puck possession – a specialty of the Kings.
Quick stopped a second-period breakaway by John Klingberg, and the All-Star goalie made several canny saves in the final minutes of his 26th victory.