A Losing Hand of 21 for Kings

All the things the Kings said they couldn’t do Thursday night, they did.

And got away with them.

For a while.

But these are the Dallas Stars, and there is the inevitable when they play the Kings. In this case, the inevitable was that third-period goals by the Kings’ Garry Galley and Marko Tuomainen meant only another tease. Only a 5-2 loss that added yet another link to a chain of futility that stretches over 21 games.

The ledger is 15-0-6-1, and it’s the longest string of domination in the NHL. It ties records for both teams that date to the early 1970s and were, yes, set against each other.

“They’re just human beings out there,” said King goalie Jamie Storr, who shut down the Stars for a period, had some spectacular saves but in the end was undone by his teammates.

“I don’t care if Dallas is 20-0. . . . We know that we’ve got to win to get into the playoffs. We’ve got to beat the Dallases and St. Louises and San Joses.”

Well, the Kings have beaten St. Louis and San Jose. Dallas is another story.

The goals by Galley and Tuomainen cut the deficit to 3-2 before 14,369 at Staples Center, but Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow scored for the Stars to make sure the Kings got no closer.

Modano is the Dallas captain, and he always seems to score against the Kings. So does Brett Hull, whose second-period goal made it 2-0.

If Dallas owns the Kings, Modano and Hull hold the deed. Their counterparts, well. . . .

“The guys who scored for us to beat Buffalo, they were minus-two tonight,” said King Coach Andy Murray of Ziggy Palffy and Luc Robitaille, both of whom had two goals on Tuesday against Buffalo but were scoreless Thursday.

Palffy had three shots, all in the third period, one a near-breakaway that Dallas goalie Ed Belfour had little trouble stopping.

Robitaille had three shots, all from around the net, none particularly dangerous.

A third-period goal by Blake Sloan, who followed a shot by Modano, was the game-winner.

“To me, the big story of the game was that we allowed ourselves to be down, 3-0,” Murray said. “Dallas is a real smart hockey team. They didn’t have a lot of energy tonight, but they made a lot out of what they had.”

One thing the Stars had was a power play, particularly in the second period when goals by Darryl Sydor and Hull gave them a 2-0 lead.

The Kings wanted to eliminate penalties and keep the Stars scoreless early. Well, one out of two isn’t bad.

The Kings had 21 minutes in first-period penalties, but stayed scoreless because Storr stopped nine Dallas shots, including a point-blank breakaway by Modano.

So far, so good.

But the penalties continued to mount, as they always seem to for the Kings, among the NHL’s most serious sinners.

“Against L.A., you don’t take the play to them,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “You take advantage of their aggressiveness.”

In this case, Craig Johnson and Aki Berg were judged as being so aggressive that they were in the penalty box when Sydor and Hull scored.

“I thought both penalties . . . were not good penalties to take. . . . To me they were two poor plays by our players,” Murray said.

And two good plays by the Stars.

And then it became 3-0 on Sloan’s goal.

“Our confidence against them is that we feel if we get a lead, we’re not nervous,” Hitchcock said.

Why should they be?

Actually, why should they be nervous against anybody? Dallas has won 39 in a row when it has scored three or more goals.

Dan Bylsma cleared out things in front of the net and distracted Belfour sufficiently for Galley’s shot to get through at 3:40.

And, with Len Barrie in the penalty box, Tuomainen intercepted a pass and sailed goalward with Sean O’Donnell on his right wing. Tuomainen took care of things himself to cut the score to 3-2, and it was left for Modano and Morrow to earn enough padding for the Stars to coast home.

Inevitably.

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The Streak

With their 5-2 loss to Dallas Thursday, the Kings haven’t beaten the Stars in 21 consecutive games. The Kings last won, 3-2, on April 6, 1995:

1995-96: 0-0-4

1996-97: 0-3-1

1997-98: 0-3-1

1998-99: 0-6-0

1999-2000: 0-3-0-1

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HELENE ELLIOTT

Dallas is learning that defending its title might be as difficult as winning it was. Page 14