After going nearly the full month of February without a home game, the Dallas Stars made a happy return to the American Airlines Center with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Goals from Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene helped the Stars continue the Kings woes in Dallas, who haven't won a road game against the Stars since pre-COVID.
The Stars were certainly eager to get things going again on home ice after such a long layoff, and it didn't take long for Robertson to open the scoring after pouncing on a juicy rebound from goaltender Darcy Kuemper's pads.
With a 1-0 lead and the crowd behind the team, Dallas looked to keep the momentum going, but Los Angeles fired back with an answer from Warren Foegele, who seemingly always brings his best against Dallas dating back to his days in Edmonton, and especially last season throughout the Western Conference Final. His play earned him a contract with the Kings, and he has given LA exactly what they were looking for in a depth forward.
It was Phillip Danault that made the play to Foegele in front of Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, but the Stars defense made it easy leaving both players uncovered in tight to the crease, where Danault could bump it back to Foegele in a nice looking play for the Kings to tie it 1-1. It was Foegele's third goal in the three season match-ups against Dallas.
The Stars were given a four minute power play when Tanner Jeannot high-sticked Brendan Smith, and at the very tail end of the first two minutes, Duchene finished off a beauty of a tic-tac-toe goal. Robertson backhanded a sharp pass to Roope Hintz, who wasted no movements one-timing the pass to Duchene to tip past a helpless Kuemper to regain the Stars lead. Like Foegele, it was also Duchene's third goal in the season series.
Dallas couldn't capitalize on the second part of the power play, but shortly after it had expired, Logan Stankoven got himself back on the score sheet with a goal to put Dallas up by two. Kuemper thought he had a long shot from the point held, but a slight deflection allowed the puck to leak off his left side right to a waiting Stankoven who swept it home.
At the end of the first, Dallas held a strong 3-1 lead and looked like a fast and energetic team back home after a long time on the road.
In the second, Dallas was once again afforded a power play opportunity, something the Kings have wanted to avoid since returning from the Four Nations break. LA had only killed four of eight penalties since, and Dallas made the stat worse when Thomas Harley fired a wrister from the blue line that Wyatt Johnston tipped off of Kuemper and in. Johnston was left wide open in front of the net, and the power play goal extended the lead to three.
After Dallas made it 4-1, it seemed like the Stars were set to cruise to victory, but the Kings had other ideas. Trevor Moore swept a wrap-around shot off of Oettinger's right skate and into the back of the net to cut the deficit back to two goals.
Shortly after, Adrian Kempe made his first major impact of the game with a dangerous shot that beat Oettinger over the shoulder but hit the post and deflected high and out of play. Then, a minor penalty on Harley late in the second gave Los Angeles a great chance to get right back in the game for the final period, but Dallas killed it off and Oettinger made a crucial save on Foegele, who once again continued to be the thorn in the Stars side.
The third period started much like the first two with Dallas making an early impact on the scoreboard. Stankoven put home his second goal of the game after Kuemper couldn't hold yet another rebound. Great patience and some deft stick-handling allowed Stankoven to maneuver the puck forehand to backhand and into the back of the net, with the assists going to Hintz and Robertson. That gave Robertson a goal and two assists but more impressively gave Hintz four assists on the game.
Shortly after, Cody Ceci was called for a questionable high-sticking penalty that could have been good news for the Kings, but instead led to more scoring for Dallas. Sam Steel took advantage of a turnover and scored on a beautiful backhand move on a breakaway to make it 6-2 and turn the game into a rout.
In a bit of symmetry, Steel had a short-handed goal against the Kings last January at the American Airlines Center that also gave Dallas a four goal lead.
Dallas had several more chances just after, including a crossbar hit by Ilya Lyubushkin. The game was well in control, though, so it was all for the crowd's pleasure after waiting since a Feb. 3 win against Columbus for another taste of Stars hockey in Dallas.
Dallas is right back at it against the St. Louis Blues Sunday as part of the current four game homestand. The game can be seen on the national broadcast available on TNT, with puck drop at 5 p.m. CST.