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Eriksson's goal sends Stars past Kings

Jan 13, 2012 - 9:03 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Loui Eriksson scored in the third round of the shootout to lift the Dallas Stars over the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4, at Staples Center.

The Kings' Trevor Lewis then had a chance to keep the shootout going, but his backhander hit the outside of the net to give Los Angeles its fourth loss in seven games.

Eriksson had two goals in regulation, while Alex Goligoski added a goal and an assist. Eric Nystrom also scored for the Stars.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 37-of-41 shots in Dallas' third win in four games.

"This was an important win for us," said Eriksson. "We took too many penalties, but we stuck with it and got the two points."

Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson each had a goal and two assists for the Kings. Lewis and Dustin Brown also lit the lamp, while Jonathan Quick made 34 saves in the loss.

Two Stars' goal within a minute of each other in the first period gave Dallas a 2-0 lead in the first intermission.

Eriksson struck first with a wrister from the slot that beat Quick to the glove side at the 14:04 mark of the opening frame, and Nystrom tallied 51 seconds later when he cleaned up his own rebound out in front of the net.

Kopitar redirected a Johnson slap shot from the left point 6:16 into the second period to close the gap to 2-1, but Goligoski answered with a one-timer from the left circle just over a minute later to stretch the Stars' lead back to two goals.

Lewis converted on a breakaway by deking left before moving to the right and slipping the puck past the glove of Lehtonen near the midpoint of the second to make it a 3-2 game after two periods.

Los Angeles then took its first lead of the game in the third period with two straight power play goals.

The first came on a two-man advantage when Johnson ripped a one-timer from the right circle and the second put the Kings up 4-3 with 11:05 left in regulation when Brown tipped in a Kopitar pass from the left circle.

But Dallas knotted the game up at the 14:35 mark of the third after a double minor to the Kings' Mike Richards after Kopitar took a big hit in the corner and had to be helped off the ice.

Los Angeles killed off the first penalty but early in the second Eriksson threw a puck out front from the right side of the net that was knocked past Quick off the stick of Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell, forcing overtime.

The Kings seemed to score the game winner with 21.1 seconds left in the extra period when the puck was poked past the goal line during a scrum out front, but the whistle had already been blown.

"We didn't get off to a good start," Brown said. "We came back and found a way to get a point. We had an opportunity to get two."

Game Notes

Los Angeles fell to 11-0-1 this season when scoring at least three goals in a game...The teams had a combined total of 54 penalty minutes in the game...The Kings went 3-for-7 on the power play...Dallas was 1-for-5 with the man advantage...Kopitar did not return to the game with an upper body injury after the hit he took in the third.