Games 4-5: Kings vs Dallas Stars 1:4, 1-4

Kings drop two straight against Stars at Staples

(photo courtesy of www.yimg.com)

Derek Armstrong takes a beating from Stephane Robidas,
representative of the Kings downfall against the Stars

Game 4: Kings vs Dallas Stars 1:4

LA goal from: Raitis Ivanans
DAL goals from: Miettinen, Modano, Morrow, Lehtinen.

The pros: Some (former) Kings played quite well that night, they were just wearing the visitor white/gold/green uniforms of the Stars...

The cons: Shaky drama called the first period continues for goaltender Dan Cloutier. This time he got a bucket full of ice-cold water from Miettinen some 19 seconds into the contest. Cloutier does seem to suffer from the Mikael Tellqvist-like long warmup syndrome. If shot upon early and often (like the Stars did) , he's susceptible to letting in weak shots. Most of the team were flat-footed though, anyway, and it might be true that even Rogie Vachon himself would not have made a difference between the pipes.

"Tonight we just got sand kicked in our face," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "We did not have the type of passion that we needed to play with. The team was not ready to play at the start of the game, and that is my fault."

Game 5: Kings vs Dallas Stars 1:4

LA goal from: Michael Cammalleri
DAL goals from: Morrow 2, Ribeiro, Lehtinen.

The pros: Same result though much more sure-handed goaltending from Mathieu Garon. Another good thing is that the Kings do not meet Dallas until October 28.

The cons: Similar PP effort as last night (1-for-8) with declining PK efficiency (3-for-9 for the Stars) are never a recipe for success in the NHL. Playing Mike Weaver against a Pacific powerhouse is alway a questionable roster move.

Kings need to get out of the funk and quickly against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, October 16:

"We have to learn from our mistakes," said Cloutier, who gave up three goals on the first 12 shots by the Stars. "We can't sit back and think about the bad things."

and

"The team is a little bit fragile," Crawford said. "We're not playing with a lot of confidence at this point in the game."