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Kari Lehtonen made 40 saves and earned his first shutout of
the season to lead the Dallas Stars to a 2-0 victory over the defending Stanley
Cup champion Los Angeles Kings Thursday night.
Lehtonen made several big saves, especially on the penalty
kill and when the Stars were dominated for most of the second period. The Stars
were also led by their savvy, ageless veteran. Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney
each scored, and Stephane Robidas and Vernon Fiddler played through injuries.
It took over 46 minutes before the stellar goal-tending battle
between Lehtonen and Jonathan Quick could be solved.
After the Stars withstood an offensive barrage by the Kings,
Jamie Benn battled behind the net with Kings captain Anze Kopitar. He
eventually took the puck and skated it up ice. He dropped the puck back for a
trailing Jagr. Jagr took it to the net, moved the puck to his backhand and
threw the puck on net. It sailed through a crowd and hit off Drew Doughty’s leg
and into the net 6:34 into the third period.
Little over halfway through the third period, Cody Eakin
took a big hit near his blue line in order to make a pass to Loui Eriksson up
ice. The Stars entered the offensive zone with a 3-on-2 opportunity. Eriksson
glided toward the right post and passed back to Alex Goligoski in the middle of
the zone. Goligoski then passed the puck to Whitney on his left. Whitney
released a booming one-timer that hit off Quick’s leg on its way to the back of
the net.
The Stars held on and played sound, balanced hockey to close
out the game. This was the second time this season the Stars have defeated the
Kings in Los Angeles, where the Kings have a stellar record. This was also the
second time this season the Stars won the second game of a back-to-back.
The Stars kick off a critical 5-game home stand against the
Colorado Avalanche Saturday night.
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