Johnson holds on to the puck and tries top clear it out. But it's picked up by a Stars player. But Blake plays his man perfectly, causing him to cough up the puck.

Kopitar looks dead tired, as he skates across center ice. He passes it over, but doesn't quite have the speed to follow up with a pass back. He skates off with a minute left, handing it over to O'Sullivan.

Both teams are seriosuly fatigued as they skate for the shootout.

Kopitar scores!
Hagman misses!
Frolov misses!
Modano wrister saved by LaBarbera.
Brown wrister saved by Turco.
Miettinen scores!
O'Sullivan scores!!!
Ribeiro wrister saved by LaBarbera!!!

Final score: Kings 4, Stars 3 in a shootout

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Then Preissing gets two minutes in the sin bin, as the league's second-worst PK unit takes to the ice. Brown is able to wrangle the puck away for a short-handed attempt. But Turco cannot be fooled, as the Stars continue to be on the attack. Blake then gets sent to the box for cross-checking, giving the Stars a prime chance to tie the game.

L.A. kills the two-man advantage, but allow another bone-headed penalty, when Stuart gets two for delay of game, giving Dallas their third two-man advantage. The game is tied, when Modry is nailed by Niskanen's shot from the point, slowing the puck down, as it arcs over LaBarbera and into the net. The Stars still have the man-advantage.

LaBarbera makes a huge play on Halpern, as he shoots on a tight one-timer, and snaps the puck out of the air. The Staples Center crowd gives Jason a rousing roar of approval, as they show the replay. He extended fully, and made a beautiful save to keep the game knotted at 3.

The Kings are playing with some steam, trying to capitilze on the seemingly tired Stars.

L.A. gets another power play, when Ott gets a deuce for hooking Nagy. But the Stars seemingly stymie the Kings with one fewer player on the ice. Dallas kills the penalty, as both teams are slowing down now. As we head to overtime!

Third period: Kings 3, Stars 3

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Both teams seemed to have cooled considerably as the second unfolds. Every time one teams seems to get the momentum, the other comes back. Case in point, the Stars are buzzing, cycling the puck and peppering the goal. But Morrow gets two minutes for interference, giving the fourth-ranked power play a shot with a man-advantage.

And L.A. comes right out and scores, as he throws the puck on net, and Kopitar skates in front of Turco, seemingly tripping him, as he gets his stick on Blake's shot. The puck trickles in, giving L.A. their first lead of the game. The All-Star Kopitar gets credit for the goal, as Blake gets the assist. Brown should've gotten credit for the second assist, since it was his forechecking that got that started.

L.A. almost gets another, when Nagy's shot surprises Turco. But he makes an acrobatic save to hold off the Kings. The shots are even again, with each club adding 6 shots. But L.A. keeps up their hit parade. Brown has found his stride, and Blake is playing inspired hockey this game.

Second period: Kings 3, Stars 2

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Then, 16 seconds later, Dallas strikes again. Eriksson puts in a rebound from behind LaBarbera to make it 2-0. And here we go again.

O'Sullivan gets a penalty for tripping Halpern, but the Kings kill the penalty. Then as O'Sullivan leaves the box, the puck is fed to him and he skates in. He puts the puck on net, and the rebound finds it's way to Frolov, who scores to put L.A. on the board.

LaBarbera is showing more comfort handling the puck behind the net. I guess Ranford is giving Labs some good guidance when it comes to puck-handling.

Then, less than a minute later, Armstrong scores to tie the game. As I'm listening to Jimmy Fox on FSN West, he notes that in the last 17 shots faced by Turco, he has let in 8 goals. I guess that's good for Los Angeles. Another good sign: the home team has won each game in this series. Dallas is 2-0 at home, while L.A. is 3-0 at Staples.

The shots were even, (12 a piece) but the hits were not (17-9 in favor of the Kings). It was great to see the Kings come back after being down by two goals. Not something you can count on every night. But they have made it a game again.

First period: Kings 2, Stars 2

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