Familiar Story for Kings

The Kings should get a patent on how to lose close games.

For the 10th time this season, the Kings lost by a goal and Thursday night’s 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars at Staples Center was definitely a game in which they worked hard enough to at least gain a point.

“We made a defensive mistake against an elite player and he made us pay,” King Coach Andy Murray said about Mike Modano, who won the game for the Stars when he skated untouched to the slot and beat backup goaltender Jamie Storr with a third-period goal.

Modano’s effort and a soft game from starting goaltender Felix Potvin spoiled center Jason Allison’s best offensive game as a King.

Allison scored two goals in the third period and almost led the Kings to a dramatic come-from-behind victory.

“We’re finding ways to lose games and since I’ve been here, there’s been only two games that we’ve been outplayed,” Allison said about the Kings, who dropped to 5-10-1-2 overall and 2-6-0-1 at home. “I don’t know if Dallas had 10 scoring chances the entire game but they had four goals.”

Modano, who returned to the lineup after missing two games because of back problems, finished with two goals and Joe Nieuwendyk also scored twice for the Stars, who ended a four-game winless streak and improved to 6-6-4-3.

The first goal of the game, scored by Modano, was as ugly as a goal can get.

With many in the crowd of 14,584 still looking for their seats, Modano took in a pass from Benoit Hogue by the side boards, spun around and launched a “not-too-hard” of a shot from the top of the right circle. Potvin, however, had trouble judging the speed of the shot and the puck slid between his legs to give Dallas a 1-0 lead 2:59 into the game.

For the remainder of the first period, the Kings took it to the Stars. But no matter how hard they tried and no matter how long they kept the puck in the Stars’ zone, Dallas goalie Ed Belfour prevented them from scoring and the Stars held on to their 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

In the second period, things got worse for Potvin and the Kings. During a two-minute four-on-four situation, Nieuwendyk broke out with two goals in a 56-second span to give Dallas a 3-0 lead 13:04 into the period. Nieuwendyk skated alone into the slot and beat Potvin high to his glove side for his first goal. For his second score, Nieuwendyk capitalized on a 2-on-1 for the Stars by knocking in his own rebound.

The Kings, who played without injured defenseman Mathieu Schneider, finally got on the scoreboard when Adam Deadmarsh caught a break from Dallas defenseman Richard Matvichuk, who deflected in a pass intended for Ziggy Palffy to give the Kings a power-play goal at 16:06 of the second period.

With his team down by two goals, Murray decided to pull Potvin in favor of Storr and the move seemed to give the Kings a spark at the start of the third period.

The Kings closed to within 3-2 when Allison jumped on a loose rebound off a shot by Palffy to score his first goal as a King at 5:28.

Then less than two minutes later, Allison made his most impressive play as a King when he slashed in front of the net and fought off Dallas defensemen Sergei Zubov and Derian Hatcher before beating Belfour with a spinning backhand shot at 7:26.