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Williams, Kings drop struggling Stars in shootout

Mar 27, 2009 - 4:33 AM DALLAS (AP) -- Justin Williams kept the Los Angeles Kings' faint playoff hopes alive.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars wasted a chance to improve their long-shot playoff chances.

Williams converted in the third round of the shootout and the Kings ended a three-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over the Stars on Thursday night.

"We can't lose a game," Williams said. "We know we have to win out to have a chance."

The Stars, 0-4-1 in their past five and 2-7-1 in their past 10 at home, are 12th in the Western Conference with 75 points. That's three points better than the Kings, 1-5-2 in their past eight.

Dallas and Los Angeles both have eight games left, five each on the road.

The Stars, who came within two wins of reaching last year's Stanley Cup finals, are in danger of missing the playoffs for the second time in the past 12 seasons.

"We left a point out there," Stars goalie Marty Turco said. "We had a lot of chances that didn't go our way. Unfortunately, we're just running out of time. We're going to fight until they tell us to go home."

Anze Kopitar gave the Kings the advantage in the first round of the shootout, making a nifty move to fake Turco out of position, then tucking the puck into the net one-handed.

But Jere Lehtinen drew the Stars even in the third round, beating Jonathan Quick with a forehand shot from the slot.

Williams was up next, and he gave the Kings the extra point when his shot trickled into the net after Turco appeared to make the stop. At first, the referees ruled no-goal, but they went to video replay, which showed the puck over the goal line.

"I thought I saw it go into the back of the net," Williams said. "But I looked at our bench and nobody was celebrating."

As soon as the goal was announced as good, the Kings poured off the bench to congratulate Williams and Quick.

The Kings had a little luck on their side when Dallas' James Neal hit the post with his second-round attempt.

Turco made 30 saves. Quick stopped 29.

Turco kept the game scoreless with less than two minutes left in regulation, making a sharp glove save on Teddy Purcell's shot from the slot.

The injury-depleted Stars are without top players Brenden Morrow, Brad Richards and Sergei Zubov, and Dallas also lost defenseman Trevor Daley less than three minutes after the opening faceoff when he crashed headfirst into the boards.

Daley was trying to take possession of the puck behind the Stars net when he was checked by Kings left wing Raitis Ivanans. Daley's head struck the end boards and he was down for several minutes before being helped off the ice.

Daley did not return, leaving Dallas short a defenseman. Daley will be evaluated on Friday.

"We hung around, but we had five (defensemen) back there and some fatigue set in," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.

Los Angeles has two goals in the past four games, both on the power play, and hasn't scored at even strength since a 3-2 win at Boston on March 19.

The Stars have seven goals during the past five games and are 1-for-23 on the power play during that span.

"We have lots of try from a lot of people, but we needed to bury one of those chances," Tippett said. "We have to win games to keep ourselves in the race. Each game we scratch and claw. We still have this in our hands."

Dallas held a 12-3 shots edge in the first period, but Los Angeles had the shots advantage in the second period 14-6.