Kings Seeing Stars After Latest Run-In

Let’s see.

* Mike Modano hit Ray Ferraro, who hit him back, and both blows were legal.

* And Modano hit Pavel Rosa, who was en route to the bench, and that was legal too, because referee Paul Devorski apparently didn’t see it.

* Brent Severyn hit Luc Robitaille because if the Kings were going to hit Modano, one of the Stars’ stars, Robitaille, the Kings’ scoring leader, wasn’t going to escape retribution.

* And Robitaille hit Severyn, because, said Robitaille, “I’m not going to take that kind of . . . from anybody.”

* And Ian Laperriere hooked Modano near the boards, and the hit was caught: two minutes in the penalty box for Laperriere and a power-play goal for Dallas’ Derek Plante in a 6-2 Star win Sunday afternoon in a game that looked like a cross between a 5 o’clock wreck on the San Diego Freeway and a street fight.

The loss extended the Kings’ winless streak against Dallas to 18 games (0-12-6) and officially ended their playoff quest. They are nine points behind eighth-place Edmonton with four games to play.

Not that there has been much of a playoff chance anyway over the past month or so.

“Eight penalties to us,” Coach Larry Robinson said in a bit of hyperbole concerning the Kings’ six-penalty second period. “I wish we could get that in our building.”

In the end, mistakes were the Kings’ undoing, as they have been all season. They picked up a 1-0 lead on Craig Johnson’s goal 2:12 into the game, only the second lead they have had on the Stars in their six meetings this season.

That was matched by Mike Keane’s goal after a mid-ice turnover, then overcome by Tony Hrkac’s score.

A goal by Steve McKenna, his first of the season, tied it, and Dallas took the lead for good on Grant Marshall’s score.

All of this came in the first period, as did a power-play goal by Brett Hull.

That was enough for King goalie Stephane Fiset, who gave way to Manny Legace to begin the second.

That’s when all the trouble began.

As far as Robinson is concerned, Modano--back after missing four games because of a groin strain--precipitated the problem.

“He hit Pavel Rosa in the head from behind with a cross-check,” Robinson said. “That’s the kind of thing that got Rob Blake suspended for two games.”

Blake, the Kings’ captain, sat out the game because of a suspension meted out Friday by the league.

“But that’s Modano and this is Dallas,” said Robinson, whose team did not have any power-play opportunity.

Modano shrugged off the whole mess.

“I’ve got a bull’s-eye on my back,” he said. “I’m a target. I’m used to it.”

Robitaille isn’t.

“[Severyn] told me it was because of what happened to Modano,” Robitaille said. “I said, ‘Fine. Next time I’ll get my stick up.’ It’s nothing personal, but if the ref’s not going to call it after he takes 20 steps to get to me . . . you’ve got to have some pride. I think what happened was because of pride. You can’t just take it.”

In the end, the Kings had chances to win, but frittered them away with mistakes. They offered Dallas chances to win, and the Stars capitalized on them as they have all season.

Between the second and third periods, the Stars accepted the Presidents’ Trophy, emblematic of the league’s best record. They have won it two years in a row, and have 112 points this season.

Twelve of them came courtesy of the Kings, who lost five games to the Stars by one goal each, and then suffered Sunday’s train wreck.

“Mistakes,” Robinson said, shaking his head. “We tell them you’ve got to avoid turnovers, and then we turn it over and they score.

“And Hull’s goal went under two of our sticks.”

It’s the story of a season that has gone under, over, around and through the Kings’ sticks. A season that began with hope limps along with losses in seven of their last nine games.

And the misery continues. They have a combined 3-12-1 record against the final four teams they face this season.