Kings Play Second Fiddle to Dallas’ Modano

Mike Modano became the star of Stars Wednesday. The Kings merely became more frustrated as the trip they believe holds the key to their playoff hopes began with a disheartening 4-2 loss at Reunion Arena.

Modano, a holdover from when the club was based in Minnesota, became the top scorer in franchise history with a spectacular effort. He tied Neal Broten’s record of 867 points by setting up Dallas’ second goal and broke the record by scoring the winner from a sharp angle with 55.9 seconds left, a shot that caromed off someone’s stick in the forest in front of King goalie Steve Passmore.

Modano also assisted on Jere Lehtinen’s empty-net goal with 26 seconds to play, sending the sellout crowd of 17,001 into the humid Texas night pleased to have witnessed history.

“I don’t think I imagined this,” said Modano, a Michigan native who was the first overall pick in the 1988 entry draft. “When you’re 18, it’s the furthest thing from your mind. You just want to come into the league and enjoy it.”

Said King Coach Andy Murray, a North Star assistant coach from 1990-92: “I thought Modano was just outstanding tonight. He’s as good as there is in this league.”

But while Modano made history, the Kings took another step toward becoming history.

In losing the opener of a five-game, nine-day trip, they extended their slump to 2-7-1 since Jan. 22. They also dropped to .500 (24-24-8-1) for the first time since they were 6-6-2-0 Nov. 2, and fell five points behind the Edmonton Oilers for the last Western Conference playoff berth. They twice negated one-goal Dallas leads, but penalty-killing and defensive lapses again undermined that effort.

“We were under a minute there and three or four of us are running around because we can’t find our positions,” said Bryan Smolinski, who shared the ignominy of a minus-three defensive rating with teammates Rob Blake, Glen Murray and Ziggy Palffy.

“That’s where we’ve got to take responsibility for ourselves, and we didn’t.”

Passmore, who relieved Jamie Storr each of the past two games, started his first game since Jan. 16. He stopped 23 shots and was helped by his goal posts twice, but he too came away frustrated.

“Right now, we’re in a playoff race and every point is so valuable to us,” he said. “We can’t let them slip away. You could play 82 good games in a row and if you lose, you still end up with no points.

“We’re happy with the effort and everything, but in the end, it’s the result that we come away with.”

Although their last encounter ended on a sour note--Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock thought the Kings were gloating near the end of an 8-0 rout Jan. 30 at Staples Center, but the Kings contended they were laughing at Stu Grimson’s attempts to get Luc Robitaille off the ice at the end of a shift--both teams focused on business Wednesday. Hitchcock said he accepted Murray’s explanation of the incident, and there were only six penalties, all minors.

After a scoreless first period, Dallas broke through at 12:08 of the second period, with four seconds left on a needless hooking penalty Luc Robitaille had taken behind the Dallas net. Sergei Zubov’s shot was stopped, but Joe Nieuwendyk pounced on the puck and darted behind the net. On his stomach, he made a backhand pass to Darryl Sydor, who jammed it in by the left post.

The Kings pulled even at 13:57, when Mathieu Schneider’s shot struck Dallas goalie Ed Belfour, caromed off Sydor’s right eye and arm and fell into the net as Sydor tried to clear it. Sydor left the ice with a nasty cut and a welt under his eye but was able to return.

The Stars forged ahead at 1:01 of the third period on a shot by Lehtinen that deflected off Passmore, but the Kings responded at 6:10, on a power-play goal by Bob Corkum from the right side of the slot.

Seemingly granted a reprieve when Grant Marshall hit the post with less than two minutes left, the Kings scrambled to cling to a tie and a point. But with the Stars pressing and the Kings racing around in their end of the ice, Modano shot from the far left wing and scored his 20th goal, the first player in franchise history to score 20 goals 11 times. His assist on Lehtinen’s empty-net goal gave him 500 career assists.

“He had a great game tonight,” said Passmore, who had his eye on Modano’s goal until it hit a stick in front and sailed up and over his shoulder. “The guy’s dangerous any time he has the puck or is on the ice. They seemed to find him with the puck.”

The Kings seem intent on finding ways to not win. After Wednesday’s morning skate, Robitaille called this trip, “a really major step for this organization this year.” Which direction they will step, however, is up to them.