Five for Fighting

Larry's back

Sorry, had to do it. Niklas Hagman ends his scoring drought with a goal in the third period. He fought hard for this one, too, battling a few Kings along the boards behind the net before he jammed it through new Kings goaltender Daniel Taylor. It's 7-2 now after L.A. got one about a minute ago.

Still, I think it's a solid five-goal lead.

Not bad

Good two periods for the Stars, who have given themselves a nice little lead thanks, mainly, to the power play. The Kings didn't do a whole lot offensively. How could they, since they were killing penalties the entire period? Nevertheless, the angst of the Kings fans was heard with about two minutes remaining in the second period. The Kings got a shot on Marty Turco, and the home crowd cheered; it was only the Kings' second shot of the period.

Loui, part 2

Stars and Kings in a little 4 on 4 since the penalty situation is getting ridiculous. Anyway, Loui Eriksson gets another one, once again set up by Brad Richards, and the Stars are now up 5-1.

Long second period.

Four-spot

The Stars go up 4-1 thanks to another power-play opportunity, this one a double-minor high-sticking on Scott Thornton.

The Stars score on the second power play, when Brad Richards spotted Loui Eriksson coming through the slot. Good pass, good finish, and it's 4-1 at 10:24. Richards and Trevor Daley on the assists.

The Kings have six shots on goal for the game, and just one in the period thus far.

Morrow makes it 3-1

Brenden Morrow gets goal No. 31 on the power play, as the Stars go up 3-1 at 6:15 in the second period. Stephane Robidas' shot set it up, as his blast got through Erik Ersberg enough to just sit in the crease. Morrow just tapped it in from there. Assists to Robidas and Ribeiro.

STUUUUU!

The Stars talk about getting breaks their way. They got a nice one here. Stu Barnes' shot caroms off the leg of Kings defenseman Kevin Dallman and in as the Stars take a 2-1 lead just 16 seconds into the second. Mike Modano and Mattias Norstrom on the assists.

The Stars just got whistled for too many men on the ice.. Kings power play commencing.

Robidas ties it

Yep, it's that stellar scorer Stephane Robidas evening the score on the power play. Mike Ribeiro was lulling the Kings to sleep behind the net, and his quick pass to Robidas set this one up. Ribeiro and Lehtinen on the assists at 13:29.

Kings up

I'm running behind, and so are the Stars now. Despite the fact that the Stars have spent most of the early minutes in the L.A. zone, they still don't have a shot on goal. The Kings, meanwhile, score on their first SOG, thanks to a beautiful pass from Dustin Brown to Kevin Dallman at the 6:09 mark.

Brenden Morrow just got called for slashing. Kingies on the power play.

Lines

Hey folks. Here are the lines for the Stars vs. Kings on Saturday, March 29:

Ott-Modano-Barnes
Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Eriksson-Richards-Miettinen
Hagman-Petersen-Crombeen

Nicklas Grossman, Krys Barch, Brad Winchester and Joel Lundqvist are scratches. I'm still questioning scratching Grossman.

Not quite on Zubov

Sergei Zubov looked pretty good out there in practice today, but Tippett said he's doubtful for today's game against the Loss Angeles Kings. Oh well. There's always hope we'll see him Sunday night against Anaheim. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a choice of keeping him out of the L.A. game so he's good and ready on the second half of this back-to-back. Why throw him in for the Kingies if not completely necessary. And it shouldn't be necessary.

Then again, I thought that game would be a cakewalk for the Stars last Saturday, so that shows what I know.

Philippe Boucher said he felt fine after last night's game. Little tight, little rust, but that's it. Not a whole lot else to report, so we'll see you tomorrow.