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Frolov, Ersberg lift Kings past Stars

Nov 12, 2008 - 7:26 AM By John Reger PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Alexander Frolov scored in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

Erik Ersberg stopped Mike Modano after Frolov's goal to secure the victory for Los Angeles.

Dallas could not take advantage of a five-minute power play that carried into overtime. The Stars got three shots in the overtime, but Kings coach Terry Murray was pleased with Ersberg.

"He played well obviously, but to do what he did in the shootout is good stuff," Murray said. "You have to get some stops in those situations against top scorers in the game and he came up pretty large for us."

Wayne Simmonds scored in the second round, backhanding a shot over goaltender Marty Turco's shoulder.

Ersberg had a chance to end the game, but misplayed Mike Ribeiro's attempt and allowed his shot to slip past him.

"It feels good to win," Ersberg said. "Obviously, you always want to win games, so it's just a good feeling to get the win today. It was tight there in the end, but we managed to pull it off with two great goals there in the shootout from Simmonds and Frolov."

The bonus session remained tied until Frolov beat Turco in the fifth round.

"Points are so valuable right now," Turco said. "I just got deep in my net and that could have been another point there."

The Kings scored 10 seconds into the 5-on-3 advantage just 6:50 into the first period. Jarret Stoll worked a give-and-go with Anze Kopitar, who fed the puck back to Stoll who was creeping in from the left blue line. Stoll's shot was redirected accidentally past Turco's glove by teammate Steve Ott.

Jere Lehtinen leveled the contest after accepting a backhand pass from Brad Richards that Ott fanned on and Lehtinen was able to get it past Ersberg. It was Lehtinen's first game of the season after being sidelined with an injured groin.

"It was fun to be out there, finally," he said. "It's going to take time of course. I am going to keep it simple. Short shifts and get going again.

The Kings regained the lead after Kopitar sent a shot that went off Turco and rebounded to Brown. The captain attempted to feed another teammate, but the puck caromed off the left pad of Turco and rebounded into the net.

Modano made up for his earlier mistake when he got the equalizer at 9:46 of the second period.