DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars are back in the win column, earning a 4-1 victory at home over the LosAngeles Kings. Casey DeSmith got the start in net for Dallas and turned in a strong performance. Entering the
night without a win against Los Angeles since January 18, 2018, DeSmith snapped that stretch
by stopping 27 of 28 shots.
Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan praised his goaltender’s mindset after the game, saying, “He’s
just been so rock solid all year. Those things happen, right? Those things happen. Absolutely,
they can get in your kitchen, and you can stack a couple other things on there. He just rebounds
right away. I just love the mental toughness.”
The Kings scored first, with Andrei Kuzmenko scoring the lone Los Angeles goal on a puck tha
slipped through DeSmith early. DeSmith credited team chemistry for the response, adding,
“I’m really happy that that goal didn’t cost us anything. Just a miscommunication between me
and Miro [Heiskanen] and nice to put that one in the rear-view mirror.”
On the other side, Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper exited the game in the first period after
taking traffic in front of the net. Kings PR later announced Kuemper would not return due to an
upper-body injury, with Anton Forsberg taking over in the net.
The Stars will have Tuesday, December 16 off before hitting the road for a pair of road game
on Wednesday and Thursday
