Game Recap

LOS ANGELES 5, DALLAS 2 LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Kings resurrected an old slogan from last year to inspire them in a rare win against the Dallas Stars. "Our theme was to get back to being tough to play against," coach Andy Murray said. "We felt we could be a little stingier, a little grittier." The Kings were all those things in a 5-2 victory Thursday night, getting a goal and an assist from Ziggy Palffy and solid play from Stephane Fiset in his second start of the season. Fiset stopped 29 shots in recording the Kings' second victory in their last seven games. He returned Saturday after missing 10 weeks with a knee injury to earn his first win against Minnesota. "I was relaxed. I was ready," said Fiset, who was consumed by nerves in his comeback last weekend. "It's not the same practicing as playing. You're so focused to watch the puck you don't feel the knee." Palffy's 19th goal and second-period assist added to his NHL-leading total of 42 points. "We're asking Ziggy to work both ends of the rink," Murray said. "It was a good defensive play to steal the puck (and score)." Dallas backup Marty Turco made 20 saves as the Stars lost in Los Angeles for just the third time since the 1994-95 season. "I certainly didn't help myself on that first shot (Palffy's goal), and then getting a crazy bounce on the second goal," Turco said. "The most frustrating thing is that I can't just go back in there the next game and show what I can do." The Kings led 4-0 after two periods on goals by Palffy, Stu Grimson, Luc Robitaille and Bryan Smolinski. "We shot ourselves in the foot," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We knew this team was sitting here in ninth place (in the Western Conference), playing with desperation, and we just turned it over a couple of times and really hurt ourselves." Grimson, an enforcer who rarely scores, had a surprised look on his face after getting his first goal of the season. The puck bounced off his stick and head and into the net to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead in the first. "I saw it and was trying to get out of the way," said Grimson, who notched his 14th goal in 647 career games. "You certainly don't remember the ones that go in off your head." Brett Hull scored his 16th goal 42 seconds into the third. Craig Johnson notched the Kings' fifth goal at 7:42 of the third. A power-play goal by Darryl Sydor, a former King, closed out the scoring. LOS ANGELES KINGS 5, Dallas Stars 2 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 0 0 2 2 Los Angeles 2 2 1 5 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Los Angeles, Palffy 19 (Stumpel), 1:39. 2, Los Angeles, Grimson 1 (Laperriere, Belanger), 3:08. PENALTIES: Keane, Dal (hooking), 7:04; Hatcher, Dal (cross-checking), 8:23; Schneider, LA (tripping), 12:37; Modry, LA (holding), 18:04. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 3, Los Angeles, Robitaille 14 (Palffy), 2:03. 4, Los Angeles, Smolinski 6 (Robitaille, R.Blake), 4:28 (pp). PENALTIES: Morrow, Dal (roughing), 3:10; Grimson, LA (hooking), 12:38; Berg, LA (cross-checking), 14:03; Helenius, Dal (roughing), 17:24; Nordstrom, LA, double minor (high-sticking), 20:00. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 5, Dallas, Hull 16 (Zubov) :42 (pp). 6, Los Angeles, Johnson 3 (Stumpel, Visnovsky), 7:42. 7, Dallas, Sydor 3 (Hull, Sim), 14:18 (pp). PENALTIES: Berg, LA, major-game misconduct (boarding), 11:54. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 7 12 12 31 Los Angeles 11 9 5 25 POWER PLAY: Dallas 2 of 8; Los Angeles 1 of 4. GOALIES: Dallas, Turco 3-2-0 (25 shots-20 saves). Los Angeles, Fiset 2-0-0 (31-29). Referees: Blane Angus, Bill McCreary. Linesmen: Don Henderson. Brad Lazarowich. A: 14,425 (18,118).