The Dallas Stars absolutely OWN the Kings. The Stars swept the Kings last season, and for some reason, Los Angeles just can't get anything going against against Dallas.

Ladislav Nagy is now on a line with Frolov and Armstrong. This pairs O'Sullivan and Handzus on the third line. They share a line on the penalty kill, so this should give Patrick some good offensive looks. Calder is on the third line as well.

Dallas is wearing their home blacks, with the name "Dallas" emblazoned across the front. I kinda liked the Stars old logo. It tied in the Cowboys and the Rangers.The Stars have the numbers on every side of their uniform: front, back, left and right. I don't like the DALLAS on the front. I also don't like the numbers on the front. You know who does? Photographers.

Early penalty on the Kings, puts Dallas on the power play, but Jason LaBarbera is able to turn them away. The Kings then get a quick two-man advantage a few minutes later. But the Stars score a short-hander when Niklas Hagman tips a pass away from Calder, and races down the ice and slides one under LaBarbera to make it 1-0.

Jack Johnson is paired with Brad Stuart this game, and it's nice to see Jack get more of a feel of setting up on D with another solid D-man, rather than carry one on his back. But that means Dallman is paired with Modry...

The Kings have had 10 shots already halfway through the period. Kings get a power play with 5 minutes left. The DAM line is out there the whole time, but Dallas kills the penalty. Dallas then turns up the heat on LaBarbera.

But Jason seems very comfortable out there, despite the earlier goal. Another Kings who is playing better this game is Ladislav Nagy, who is getting better looks.

The Kings and Stars have 11 shots a piece.

First period: Stars 1, Kings 1

Another good by-product of having Johnson on the same line with Stuart, is it allows him to play up and get some offensive opportunities. And early in the second, he gets into a foot race with Modano to the Dallas goal, and actually beats him. But the puck sent by Calder ricochets off the post.

Dallas gets on the board again, when the puck hops over Handzus' stick down low, and the puck is passed to Hagman by Brendan Morrow for his second goal of the game. Mike Ribeiro gets the second assist. Handzus' was positioned properly to intercept the puck from going behind to Morrow, but there's nothing you can do about an odd hop.

The Kings are getting more frustrated as the game goes on. Frolov gets the gate for hooking, and the Kings go back on the penalty kill. Stuart gets sent ot the box a minute later to go down two men. Johnson, Visnovsky and Handzus out on the ice. Handzus has been out there a long time. Frolov comes out of the box, and gets a breakaway. But Turco plops down on it to thwart the Kings winger.

The Kings do kill off the two-man penalty, and allow only one shot on goal. But the Stars have all the momentum. Antti Miettinen capitalizes a turnover in the nuetral zone, and shoots to the inside of LaBarbera, scoring his first goal of the season, making it 3-0. A goal like that is a goaltender's worst nightmare.

Dustin Brown gets chippy and gets called for holding. Then Johnson puts the Kings down two men for 28 seconds. The two-man is killed, but Mike Ribeiro scores his first goal, and second point of the game to make it 4-0 Stars. And this game is as good as over.

L.A. could only get three shots in the second, and penalties effectively killed the Kings' chances of coming back from this one. Although, stranger things have happened. Like the Ducks hoisting their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters on the other channel. Meh...

Second period: Stars 4, Kings 0

The third period barely started when Joel Lundqvist takes a neutral zone turnover and skates, awkwardly, into the Kings zone, with Rob Blake on his back, and surprises LaBarbera with a shot to add to the Stars' score, 5-0. Talk about coming out flat, not that being down down 4-0 is a rallying cry for any team.

The only highlight for the Kings was Kyle Calder's goal later in the period. And that's because it was Jack Johnson's first NHL point, as he assisted on the play.

But the Kings fell flat this game. As they did last game. Only this time, they did it in the second, instead of the first. How much do you wanna bet they go flat right from the opening face-off against the bruins Friday night?

Final score: Stars 5, Kings 1