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Eriksson helps Stars hammer Kings

Mar 30, 2008 - 8:49 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Dallas Stars have had very little success this month. But they showed no signs of those struggles Saturday.

Loui Eriksson scored two goals and Mike Ribeiro added three assists as the Stars ended a five-game winless streak with a 7-2 rout of the lowly Los Angeles Kings.

"It's important for us to win now, and we have to build every time we play now," Eriksson said. "It's a huge win for us today, and we have to do it against Anaheim (on Sunday) and play hard again."

Defenseman Stephane Robidas netted a goal and set up two others and Marty Turco made 12 saves for Dallas (43-29-6), which improved to 2-7-1 during March and moved two points ahead of Calgary (40-28-10) and idle Colorado (42-31-6) for fifth place in the Western Conference.

The Flames dropped a 2-1 decision to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

"We did some good things, but we recognize that we still have to continue to improve," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Today was another step in that process. We've been finding ways to shoot ourselves in the foot, but today we were a very determined team."

Eriksson scored up his first goal of the afternoon on the power play with 9:36 remaining in the second period. He took a pass from Brad Richards at the edge of the crease and one-timed a shot past rookie goaltender Erik Ersberg to extend the Stars' advantage to 4-1.

Entering the game without a goal since February 28, Eriksson struck again with 6:07 left in the middle session to make it 5-1. After Richards won a faceoff in the left circle, Eriksson collected the loose puck, skated to the net and lifted a wrist shot over a sprawling Ersberg.

Jere Lehtinen then scored on a breakaway at 4:26 of the third and Niklas Hagman tallied with 4:38 remaining to cap the Stars' seven-goal burst.

"When we were on the power play, we got our chances," said Tippett, whose team went 4-for-12 on the man advantage. "If we didn't get a goal, we were generating momentum. We started the game well and carried it through. It was a strong effort, and we'll need to do it again (Sunday)."

The Stars allowed a season-low 14 shots, the least amount they have given up since the Phoenix Coyotes managed just 13 on December 23, 2005.

"Today is a great example of what we need to do, and something we're going to need every shift from now on," Turco said. "We have a game plan that we'd like to execute all the time, but when guys are playing that hard, that intense and that focused, it's pretty hard to generate much (against us)."

Los Angeles grabbed the early lead on defenseman Kevin Dallman's tally at 6:09 of the first, but momentum seemed to turn after the Kings had a goal disallowed midway through the session.

Patrick O'Sullivan thought he had doubled the club's advantage when he deflected a shot past Turco, but the referee immediately waved off the goal for a high stick. Video review confirmed the referee's ruling.

The Stars went on to score the next seven goals.

"What happened more than anything is, our team hit a wall today," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "You're playing against a team that is desperate and really found themselves, and that is what happens when those paths cross."

Robidas started the rally, evening the contest at 1-1 with a power-play goal at 13:29 of the opening period. Stu Barnes tallied 16 seconds into the second to give Dallas the lead and captain Brenden Morrow added his 31st of the season at 6:15 to make it 3-1.

Ersberg, coming off his second career shutout on Thursday, surrendered five goals on 25 shots. He was replaced at the start of the third by fellow rookie Daniel Taylor, who stopped seven of the nine shots he faced in his NHL debut.

"It was a tough game," Ersberg said. "They're a good team, and when they get the chances on the power play, they're going to score sometimes. I didn't have my best day, which happens sometimes."

"I kind of wanted a nice, easy one right to the belly to start off with and then see the breakaways," Taylor said. "It was a tough one, but you just take it in stride, and hopefully we'll rebound from this."