Stars at Kings: Santa Claus Isn’t Real

Christmas comes real soon in North America, so the LA Kings wanted to send all their fans into it the right way: thinking about losing.

The last time the Kings played the Dallas Stars, they won 5-2, with scoring from multiple players. Forwards, defenseman, first line guys, bottom six guys — everyone found a way. The only thing the Kings repeated from that game was taking a bunch of penalties.

The game started out holiday cheerful. Stars forward Vernon Fiddler took an offensive zone penalty, and the Kings decided to test my suggested strategy of also taking penalties as soon as they get power play opportunities and just playing 4v4. It worked!

Justin Williams scored to put the Kings ahead 1-0. It didn’t last long. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin did what they do and tied things up 1:20 later. First shot on goal, first goal. It was a mood killer, but there was traffic in front, and it came from the Stars’ top line. Tyler Seguin had been scoring for this team all season, and Martin Jones would likely roll with it from there out. No reason to worry.

Then, on the Stars’ second shot on goal, they scored again. Martin Jones let in the softest goal of his young NHL career.

Benn. Of course.

Kings fans probably should’ve seen this coming. Drew Doughty essentially said, “Hey, we’re gonna blow chunks tonight,” in his pre-game interview, talking about how well Jamie Benn plays, especially against him.

Thankfully, the Kings second line made an impact. First, Jarret Stoll took the Kings penalty that led to Williams’ 4v4 goal, and then Williams set up Stoll for a tying goal.

But never mind all that — TREVOR LEWIS GOT A SECONDARY ASSIST.

Look at that official point. Look at it. A federal judge allows gay marriages to continue in Utah and Trevor Lewis earns a point. It really is Christmas time. Lewis is now one goal away from going to Sochi, and in Sochi, he’s going to score the goal that wins Team USA the gold medal and take his rightful place as a true All-American Hero.

There’s an argument to be made that it’s been one day since Lewis got that assist, because it happened yesterday, but you get the point. You know, like Lewis, who has a point. Now the pressure’s on Jonathan Quick to come back and get an assist plus two more shutouts.

The only problem with Lewis getting a point is that it was apparently a harbinger of doom. It’s been said that Jarret Stoll loves Christmas, but I couldn’t tell from how he took another penalty in the second period and put the Kings on the kill that eventually allowed Dallas their go-ahead goal.

Robyn Regehr tried to save the day by getting into a hilarious fight with Jamie Benn.

That’s not sasky.

Regehr was the player that left the scrap bleeding, but it removed Benn from the ice for five minutes. That was sort of an opportunity for the Kings, breaking up the top line that had been owning them through 40 minutes. They didn’t do much with that opportunity, though. The Kings outshot the Stars 10 to six in the third period, but it was the Stars who scored again, after Regehr made a lazy pass that Ryan Garbutt picked off easily and sent to Cody Eakin for the slapshot.

Dallas was then awarded an empty net goal at the end of the game after Doughty tripped up Shawn Horcoff as he aimed to score.

Doughty asking why that was a goal was the perfect way to finish this night. Who could have guessed that knowing the rules was necessary for playing NHL hockey? Not the Kings. Not this day.

Jones’ win streak ended. His career record became 8-1-0. In the locker room, Darryl Sutter shared a Christmas card with Jones to show his appreciation.

Don’t say Sutter never gave you anything.

The Kings will have four days off for the holiday. They go on the road after that, starting with another game in Nashville. Jones and Scrivens will hopefully bounce back from their respective recent losses, and the Kings’ skaters will hopefully figure out how to take less than four penalties per game again. Maybe. Probably not. Quick will also probably come back to the lineup at some point in January just in time to shake things up for the team again.

Happy Holidays, Kings fans. At the 38-game mark in 2011-2012, the Kings had an 18-14-6 record worth 42 points. Right now the Kings record stands at 25-9-4, which is worth 54 points. Losing is a downer, but the Kings are still second in the Pacific Division, and that’s not bad.

Oh, and I guess that Martin Jones guy doesn’t actually suck either.