NHL Hockey
Scoreboard|Stats|Standings|Teams|Players|Player News|Injuries
5
Final 1 2 3 OT Tot
Dallas 2 2 1 0 5
Los Angeles 0 0 5 1 6
6

Kings rally with 5 goals in 3rd period, beat Stars 6-5 on Kopitar's goal

LOS ANGELES (AP) Marty Turco didn't seem too rattled after Dustin Brown spoiled his shutout bid with 7:14 left in the third period. After all, the Dallas Stars still had a three-goal lead, so what could possibly spoil it?

How about five goals on six shots?

That's what happened to one of the NHL's top goalies on Saturday night. Turco and the Stars collapsed down the stretch, and the Los Angeles Kings escaped with an improbable 6-5 overtime victory that brought back memories of the "Miracle on Manchester" three decades ago at the Inglewood Forum.

Turco was coming off Thursday night's 5-2 loss at Phoenix, his worst of the season until this one.

"The whole third period was brutal," Turco said. "Other than embarrassing, it's a total lack of respect for each other. You can't just sit back and wait for it to go your way. You've got to make things happen. And we haven't been making enough happen. We were just lucky to get a point out of all that."

Anze Kopitar sliced the Kings' deficit to one goal with 4:01 left in regulation, then connected again 2:34 into overtime. Perhaps the happiest guy in the building was Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera, who allowed four goals on 21 shots over the first two periods before backup Jean-Sebastien Aubin finished up and stopped three of four.

"Before the third period, we said we were going to go all out and show our character and not give up. And it turned out amazing," Kopitar said. "We got the momentum going after the second goal and just took it all the way."

Playing their first game in seven days, the Kings seemed out of it after Jeff Halpern's goal put Dallas up 4-0 with 2:12 left in the second period. Turco stopped the first 27 shots he faced before the Kings stormed back against a team that had won 34 consecutive games in which it had a lead of more than one goal.

"That is the type of finish you look back on and say, 'That was really special,' And you never know. This may be the turning point of our season," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "Our players showed no quit, and they got a payoff at the end."

Scott Thornton, Alexander Frolov and Ladislav Nagy also scored during the frenetic rally. The five goals came in a span of 5:07, breaking the franchise record.

Nagy tied it with 2:07 left in regulation. Mike Modano pulled Dallas even with a slap shot from the slot during a power play with 1:05 remaining, after Turco was pulled for an extra attacker. But Kopitar ended it with a backhander between Turco's pads.

Brown triggered the comeback on a rebound after Lubomir Visnovsky's long slap shot trickled through Turco's pads and lay in the crease following a flurry of shots in the Dallas end. The goal came during a power play with 7:14 remaining in the third, while former Kings defenseman Philippe Boucher was off for hooking.

Thornton scored on a wrist shot from the right circle 75 seconds later, forcing Dallas coach Dave Tippett to call a timeout in an attempt to slow the Kings' momentum.

"After I got that first goal, Thorny scored on the very next shift and the momentum kind of built. You don't see that happen too often," Brown said. "I don't think we competed in the first period like we needed to. I thought we played pretty good in the second and then we dominated in the third."

Frolov, with his back to the net, then redirected a long slap shot by Derek Armstrong with his right skate but had to wait for a video replay to determine that the goal was legal. Kopitar sliced the deficit to 5-4 with a screened 45-foot slap shot, and Nagy sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy when he converted Brad Stuart's cross-ice pass in front of the net.

"That was unbelievable. We were talking on the bench about just shooting the puck on the net and see what happens," Nagy said. "Everybody was getting excited on the bench when we scored that first goal, and then the second, and then the third."

The Kings have beaten Dallas twice in a row after losing nine straight to the Stars, including an eight-game sweep last season.

Notes: Dallas has outscored Los Angeles 17-2 in the first period during the last 11 meetings. ... Stars D Mattias Norstrom was back in Dallas, where he was examined for a facial fracture after being high-sticked by San Jose's Steve Bernier on Wednesday night. The former Kings captain has missed two of five meetings with Los Angeles since he was traded to Dallas on Feb. 27. A knee injury prevented Norstrom from suiting up the other time.

Updated November 11, 2007

s1 © 2007 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.