Game 66: Stars 4, Kings 3 OT

To peep out all the videos online about this game, check out today's Hockeywood Dailies.

If the Kings' track record this season is any indication, we're gonna be in for a bumpy ride this March.

It's only three games in, but already the Kings are behind, 1-2. It seems it's been a case of on-again, off-again all season for this club. They started off strong in October going 8-3, then went a disappointing 5-7 in November, only to rebound with a stellar 9-5 in the Dismember to Dismember. Once January rolled around, the team fell back to a frustrating 5-8, only to bounce back with a respectable 8-5 in February, which included their 10-game-long road trip. See the pattern?

I'm not saying that the calendar is an accurate barometer for the Kings' success and failure this season. That would be on the Kings' anemic offense and miserable power play. But it paints an interesting picture of what may come.

Let's just say, for arguments sake, that the Kings' fate IS tied to the calendar. March is going to shape up to be brutal. I'll predict a 5-9 record. That would mean the Kings' April would have to be stellar, which means the team would be peaking right at playoff time... if they makes the playoffs.

If the Kings played like they did Monday night, it's not going to matter. The Kings scored first again for the seventh game in a row, when Sweet Willie Mitchell his third goal of the season. They had a golden opportunity to extend their lead, when Steve Ott decided his stick made a better weapon if he chucked it like a javelin at Kyle Clifford. The penalty landed him a 5 minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct, putting the Kings on the power play for a considerable amount of time. But as they have done all season, they failed to pot a goal to keep their foot on their opponent's throat. It was an opportunity that would haunt them later.

The Stars tied it up in the second period, when Mike Ribeiro scored his 13th of the season. But then the Kings struck a minute later when Justin Williams scored his 21st, putting the Kings in a great position. When leading after two periods, the Kings had gone 19-0 this season.

Too bad they couldn't make it 20-0. The Stars' Trevor Daley tied the game, only to be rebuffed by Clifford less than a minute later. It seemed the Kings were in the driver's seat. The Stars were getting desperate as they started playing more desperately. Alexei Ponikarovsky drew a hooking penalty on Stephane Robidas to put the Kings Power-less Play back on the ice. Not only did the Kings not capitalize, but they gave up a short-hander to Jamie Benn. I'm not pointing fingers on why it happened, but it was pretty obvious as to the cause.

After that, the Kings tried their best to squeeze one more goal out of their weak offense, but the game ended in a tie, assuring them of a point. Less than a minute into overtime, the Stars' Brendan Morrow scored the game-winner, sending the packed house at Staples home with a bad taste in their mouth.

Despite the loss, the Kings still holds precariously to the last playoff spot. Next up is a date with the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe, the site of their greatest game this season, a 5-0 shutout by Jonathan Quick. Quick was riding the pine on Monday, which assures him of playing Wednesday. Let's just hope the offense and defense shows up once more.

• AP: Morrow’s OT winner pushes Stars past Kings 4-3

Los Angeles never trailed in regulation, and Dallas twice gave up goals less than a minute after tying the score. None of it stopped the Stars from sticking with it in the final stop of a four-game trip against every other team in the Pacific Division.

• LA Times: No lead is safe as Kings lose to the Stars

The Kings still have eight games with teams that are within four points of each other in the Western Conference standings. That includes Dallas and Nashville on the back end of a four-game trip that begins in Detroit on Wednesday night.

• LAKings.com: Kings lose to the Stars in OT

Not once this season had the Kings taken a lead into the third period and come away with less than two points. But the Stars scored early in the period then, after Kyle Clifford gave the Kings a 3-2 lead, Dallas' Jamie Benn tied the game with a backbreaking shorthanded goal, the exclamation point on another poor Kings power-play effort.

• NHL.com: Stars rally to beat Kings in OT  

Jonathan Bernier made 18 saves, Anze Kopitar had two assists and Williams earned his 400th career point with an assist for the Kings, still stuck in eighth place in the West. Up next is a four-game road trip, their final significant stretch away from Staples Center during the chase for their second straight playoff berth.

They said it

“The one-goal lead, going into the third period, you’re in a pretty good position against a division team. You should be able to shut that game down. We don’t manage the puck. We just make mistakes and turn the puck over. That’s something we have to clean up right away." – Terry Murray, on the game.

“This time of year you want to get two points. Especially to just hand them out like that, like we did tonight, it’s not the way to go obviously, especially with everything being clogged up from fifth to the 10th spot. You just can’t afford to lose those types of games.” – Anze Kopitar, on letting the second point get away.

“It’s the guys out there that ultimately are going to do it. There are 10 guys with some interchangeable parts, there are two units and we’re all in this together. Nobody is pointing fingers and nobody is laying blame. We just collectively need to be better. We need to get consistent with it because, come playoff time, special teams are an extremely important part of the game.” – Justin Williams, on how to improve the power play.