THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Jordan Nolan and Dwight King each scored their first career goal and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Sunday night in a matchup of Western Conference playoff contenders.
With the game tied at 2, Nolan skated hard to the net and fired Mike Richards’ centring pass by Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen at 11:29 of the third period.
Nolan and King were both called up from Manchester of the AHL on Feb. 10. Nolan was playing in his second NHL game, King his eighth.
Jonathan Quick stopped 26 shots, Andrei Loktionov had a power-play goal and Anze Kopitar added two assists for the Kings, who completed a 2-3-1 road trip.
Justin Williams added an empty-netter with 2.1 seconds left for Los Angeles.
Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder scored for the Stars. Alex Goligoski had two assists.
Los Angeles improved to 65 points, tied with Chicago for sixth in the conference. Dallas is 11th in the West with 59 points.
The Kings lost 2-1 in overtime at the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Los Angeles capitalized on a turnover by Stars defenceman Nicklas Grossman for the game’s first goal, with King tapping a rebound past Lehtonen at 8:54 of the opening period.
The Kings made it 2-0 in the second period when Jack Johnson’s pass bounced into the net off Loktionov’s skate for his second goal of the season and sixth of his career. The goal was upheld after a video review showed that Loktionov didn’t kick the puck into the net on purpose.
Eriksson notched his 18th of the season off Goligoski’s centring pass at 13:22 of the second to pull Dallas within a goal. Eriksson broke a nine-game goal drought.
Ryder’s wrister from the slot for his team-best 21st of the season drew Dallas even at 2 at 4:37 of the third.
NOTES: LW Brenden Morrow (neck, shoulder) and D Sheldon Souray (foot) are out for Dallas. … The Kings are without C Jarret Stoll (lower body), LW Simon Gagne (concussion) and LW Scott Parse (hip). … The teams played for the final time this season, with the Kings going 3-1-2.
