LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings were down two more players before the game even started and were trailing by three goals by the first intermission of a lackluster 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
Already without wingers Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore, another top flanker, Gabe Vilardi, missed Thursday’s game because of an undisclosed injury. One of his most likely replacements, Carl Grundstrom, was injured in practice Tuesday and could be sidelined well into February. Samuel Fagemo, one of three players recalled from the minors, dressed in Vilardi’s stead.
Another unplanned lineup change saw Jonathan Quick relieve starting goalie Pheonix Copley after Copley allowed four goals on 17 shots. Quick stopped seven shots in the remaining 33 minutes for a club that begins a six-game road trip Saturday in Nashville.
Forward Tyler Seguin had two goals and an assist to power Dallas, which moved into the Central Division lead with a Western Conference-best 61 points. Winger Jason Robertson and defenseman Esa Lindell also scored, with Robertson adding an assist. Top center Roope Hintz (upper body) missed his sixth consecutive game. Backup goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 34 shots as he became the third goalie to shut out the Kings this season.
The third period brought the Kings no closer despite their out-shooting Dallas 14-2. Early on, Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen swiped the puck alertly off the goal line to deny Jaret Anderson-Dolan after a Kevin Fiala stuff attempt, and Lindell later thwarted Fagemo on a similar bid. Otherwise, Wedgewood had answers for Viktor Arvidsson, Anze Kopitar and anyone else who tested him.
The Kings generated little in the way of offense in the second period, with perhaps their best chance coming on a shorthanded partial breakaway for Adrian Kempe.
In net, Copley did not make it halfway through the game when the Stars’ fourth goal sent him into exile. Robertson beat defenseman Sean Durzi to the post on a wraparound attempt, and then popped the resultant rebound over Copley’s left shoulder.
Robertson, who had a suite full of family members from Arcadia on hand, scored his 31st goal, which tied him for fourth in the NHL. His 24 even-strength goals rank second in the league and Robertson, who is Filipino, scored on “Filipino Heritage Night” at the arena.
Dallas had already extended its edge to 3-0 with two goals in 84 seconds between the 17:20 and 18:44 marks of the first period.
Forward Jamie Benn made a strong play along the right-wing boards to draw two Kings before passing to Wyatt Johnson, who found an open Lindell trailing the play for a goal from above the left circle, his sixth of the campaign.
Before that, Seguin had struck again. After defenseman Drew Doughty disrupted a passing sequence, the puck came back to Seguin at the left faceoff dot, where he launched a precisely placed wrist shot for his 14th goal of the season.
The Kings mustered just one shot on goal in nearly nine minutes to open the match and ceded a goal to the Stars just under seven minutes into it. Seguin’s quick shot from the slot caught Copley by surprise when it banked off his blocker for the first of two tallies for Seguin.
The Kings were 0 for 4 on the power play after scoring seven times in 18 opportunities this month.
