DALLAS (AP) — It took Jack Campbell nearly nine years to make his first start in Dallas. Turns out
Tampa Bay Lightning T-Shirts Authentic , the wait was well worth it for the Los Angeles Kings‘ goalie.Campbell beat the team that drafted him and Dustin
Brown scored a rare power-play goal for the Kings, who moved out of the NHL
basement by holding off the Stars 2-1 on Thursday night.Dallas took Campbell
with the 11th pick of the 2010 draft.“Nothing more I wanted at 18 or 19, 20, 21,
22, than to be the franchise goalie,” Campbell said. “Didn’t happen. But it’s
great to come back here.“I just wanted to win just ’cause we need it.”In his
only game for the Stars, Campbell started and lost 6-3 at Anaheim five seasons
ago.“I backed up a few times here. It kind of allowed me to settle in a little
bit before I played my first game,” he said.The goaltender has played a
career-high 16 games this season as Jonathan Quick’s backup.“(Campbell’s) been
thrown into some tough situations and he’s responded well for us,” Kings coach
Willie Desjardins said.Campbell made 29 saves, 18 in the third period. He lost
his shutout with 1:04 to play, when Esa Lindell tipped in Alexander Radulov’s
shot from the blue line with Stars goalie Ben Bishop pulled for an extra skater.
Campbell stopped a similar shot by Tyler Seguin in the final minute.“We’re all
looking for the pretty play until that third period
Tampa Bay Lightning Hoodies Authentic ,” Seguin said. “We started simplifying and getting deep and going to hard areas.”Brown’s goal came in the
first period when he deflected in a shot by Drew Doughty. Carl Hagelin added a
goal in the second for the Kings.“We’ve been working hard at the power play in
practice every day,” Doughty said. “Tonight we decided to simplify it, try to
get a puck at the net the first five to 10 seconds of the power play.”It took
just three seconds for the Kings to score on their only power play of the game.
They still have a league-low six power-play goals on the road this
season.Dallas’ John Klingberg went to the penalty box at 18:01. Brown scored his
12th goal at 18:04.Anze Kopitar won the draw, and the puck went to Doughty at
the left point. Down low, Brown deflected Doughty’s drive past Bishop into the
upper right corner.Los Angeles remained last in the Pacific Division but
leapfrogged Chicago and Ottawa in the overall standings. The Kings are 2-0-1 in
the past three games, their best stretch since a four-game winning streak in
December.The Stars have lost four straight, equaling their longest skid this
season. In each of the four games, they have fallen behind 2-0.Dallas has only
three goals during its slide. Lindell ended a scoreless streak that lasted
130:21.Bishop stopped 17 shots.On Hagelin’s goal, Bishop had trouble handling a
knuckleballing shot by Tyler Toffoli from low in the left faceoff circle. The
puck dropped by Bishop’s left skate and Hagelin was there to wrist it into the
net.The Stars had only 11 shots on goal in the first two periods, but they
outshot Los Angeles 19-3 in a desperate third. Campbell denied a breakaway by
Mattias Janmark with 8½ minutes left and was aided when two shots hit the
post.“First 40 (minutes), I don’t think you could draw it up any better,”
Campbell said
Tampa Bay Lightning Hats Authentic , “especially against that group. They made a push in the third. That’s just hockey.”NOTES: Radulov said he was benched
late in the first period after talking back to coach Jim Montgomery. “It was the
right decision by Coach,” he said. … Doughty originally was credited with the
first goal. The official scoring was changed during the second period. … The
Kings’ power play ranks last in the NHL on the road at 12 percent (6 for 51). …
Los Angeles is the league’s lowest-scoring team with 109 goals. Dallas has the
third-fewest with 122. … Stars C Jason Dickinson (back injury) came off injured
reserve after missing 11 games. C Tyler Pitlick didn’t play after taking a hit
in the corner during the second period.UP NEXTKings: Complete a three-game trip
at Colorado on Saturday.Stars: Play the fourth of six straight home games
Saturday against Winnipeg. WASHINGTON (AP) — No one man can possibly replace
Alex Ovechkin for the Washington Capitals. So, forced to play without their
captain and leading scorer, the defending Stanley Cup champions used
contributions from just about everyone to make up the difference.Evgeny
Kuznetsov scored a power-play goal with 57 seconds left, and Washington shook
off the absence of its finest player to end a seven-game losing streak with a
4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.Ovechkin, who leads the NHL
with 37 goals, received a one-game suspension from the league for skipping the
All-Star Game. He had played in 214 consecutive games, a streak that began in
October 2016.Facing the best team in the Western Conference, the Capitals also
had to overcome a lower-body injury to center Lars Eller, who played only six
minutes. Undaunted, Washington got goals from unheralded role players Nic Dowd
and Dmitrij Jaskin, along with Tom Wilson
Custom Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys , before Kuznetsov notched the game winner.Without Ovechkin, the NHL’s 10th-ranked power play unit was 0 for 3 until
Kuznetsov connected.“We knew that there was going to be an opportunity for some
guys with Ovechkin out of the lineup,” coach Todd Reirden said. “It was a big
team effort from top to bottom.”With Calgary’s Mikael Backlund off for holding,
Kuznetsov weaved his way into the Flames’ zone before firing a wrist shot past
goaltender Mike Smith.“I was just in a bad position to pass the puck,” Kuznetsov
said. “So I decided to shoot.”An instant after the final horn sounded, several
players traded punches before finally skating off the ice.“There was a lot of
emotion on both sides. Two good teams that want to win,” Wilson said. “We were
playing hard right until the end there and it’s loud. We were doing whatever it
took to get the job done. That includes defending each other and sticking
together at the end.”It was the first of six straight home games for the
Capitals, who hope to get back on track after their longest losing streak since
2013-14 dropped them behind the Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.“We’re
looking forward. We’re not looking back,” Wilson said. “That was a good team
effort tonight. Pretty fun to go out that way at the end. Guys are
happy.”Calgary trailed 3-2 before Elias Lindholm notched his 22nd goal of the
season at 12:01 of the third period. Lindholm eluded Capitals defenseman Michal
Kempny to get free in front of the net, where he deflected a shot by Johnny
Gaudreau into the net.Backlund and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Flames,
who came in with the second-best record in the NHL. It was Calgary’s first
defeat in regulation since Jan. 3, and it ended a run of nine straight games
with at least one point.“They were a little more desperate than us
www.officialmapleleafsproshop.com , a little hungrier early,” coach Bill Peters said. “We got better as it went
along.”Dowd opened the scoring with three minutes elapsed, deflecting a shot by
John Carlson past the screened Smith.Backlund tied it with at 17:37 of the first
period, zig-zagging past defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler after two Capitals got
tangled up in the neutral zone. Less than two minutes later, Jaskin tapped in a
rebound for Washington.Wilson made it 3-1 with a wrist shot from the top of the
right circle in the opening minute of the second period, and Hathaway quickly
answered for the Flames.Smith finished with 36 saves, but it wasn’t good
enough.“Anytime you lose a game with less than a minute left, it stings,” he
said. “It definitely hurts after coming back and making a game of it.”NOTES:
Calgary D Travis Hamonic left with a lower-body injury. … Carlson extended his
point-scoring streak to four games and reached 40 assists in a second straight
season for the first time in his career. … Ovechkin will have to wait until
Sunday for the opportunity to pass retired Sergei Fedorov as the highest scoring
Russian-born player in NHL history. Both have 1,179 career points. … Calgary has
scored an NHL-best 81 goals in the third-period and remains plus-39 in the
period. … Washington was outscored 36-18 during its skid. The last time the
Capitals lost eight in a row was in December 2010.UP NEXTFlames: At Carolina on
Sunday afternoon.Capitals: Host Boston on Sunday afternoon.
