1. Mike Smith, Dallas: Fourth career shutout. His 22 saves were huge. Getting the Stars out of the first period with the score tied was the key to the game

2. Stephane Robidas, Dallas: On the ice for the first two goals, he made a lot of nice little plays on the night to keep the pressure off.

3. Steve Ott, Dallas: His goal broke a scoreless tie and gave the Stars momentum heading into the third period.

1st: The Stars were out-chanced in the period and appeared to be playing it safe, but goalie Mike Smith repelled the Kings' nine shots with relative ease. Smith, who was wandering quite a bit in his last game, seemed content to stay in the net and let the puck hit him. He made many saves look easier than they were. The Kings held a 16-7 advantage in hits in what was a fairly physical period. The Stars were held to four shots on goal.

Stars 0, Los Angeles 0

2nd: Dallas dialed up its offensive pressure with nine shots on goal, nine that missed the net and another seven that were blocked. The Jeff Halpern-Mike Modano-Chris Conner line had six shots on goal in the period. Dallas finally scored when the fourth line brought good energy on a shift. Steve Ott won a race from the boards to the net and deflected in a Loui Eriksson pass for the 1-0 lead at the 18:37 mark. It was Ott's second goal of the season and the 12th of his career.

Stars 1, Los Angeles 0

3rd: Instead of sitting on the lead, the Stars applied the pressure. Stephane Robidas hit Niklas Hagman with a nice, long pass down the middle of the ice, and Hagman turned it into a breakaway goal-scoring chance. Hagman lifted the puck for his team-leading ninth goal of the season. Jere Lehtinen then chipped in a power play goal to secure the victory, and Mike Smith finished with the shutout.

Stars 3, Los Angeles 0