DALLAS (AP) - Alec Martinez, who saw one apparent goal disallowed, scored 1:20 into overtime as Los Angeles Kings beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Thursday night.
Martinez’s wrist shot from the slot went past a screen by Tanner Pearson to beat Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen.
“(Tyler Toffoli) made a really good play to me in the slot. (Pearson) was in front with a good screen,” Martinez said. “All I had to do was really hit the net.”
Martinez’s second-period drive from the left point was ruled no goal because a teammate was in the paint in front of Lehtonen.
Stars coach Lindy Ruff thought the overtime goal shouldn’t have counted either.
“I think it’s a terrible call at the end of the game. I thought our goaltender was interfered with. He was elbowed in the head before the puck went in the net,” he said. “I respectfully and disrespectfully disagree with that. They look at it for five seconds, and they call it a good goal.”
The Kings had lost their first three games. Dallas fell to 2-1-1.
“That’s pretty much the way we played for other than one period this season except we got a break to win,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said.
Dallas’ Jason Spezza tied the game at 3 with 2:07 left in regulation with a shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Kings goalie Peter Budaj.
“It would have been a feel-good win for us if we could have pulled it out in overtime,” Spezza said. “Probably makes it a little more frustrating.”
Los Angeles’ Nic Dowd scored the game’s first goal, the first of his eight-game NHL career, on the power play in the first period.
The Kings took a one-goal lead twice more during a second period that included two fights and 10 penalties for 34 minutes. Jeff Carter and Pearson scored and assisted on each other’s goal.
Goals by Dallas’ Radek Faksa and Jamie Benn had tied the game.
Lehtonen made 35 saves. Budaj had 17 in his first NHL win since Feb. 12.
The Kings had been struggling since losing starting goalie Jonathan Quick in the opening game.
“This wasn’t us, starting 0-3,” Budaj said. “We definitely showed today in a hot building against a very good team we came out hard. We outshoot them and we played a real strong defensive game. It was great to see the guys have that desperation.”
Martinez had an assist on Carter’s goal.
Spezza had a goal and an assist, and teammate Tyler Seguin assisted twice.
To set up Dowd’s goal at 8:18 of the first period, Dustin Brown passed from the left side to Tom Gilbert on the right. His pass found Dowd low in the left faceoff circle.
Faksa tied the game at 11:40. With Budaj out of the net, Spezza corralled the puck behind the goal line and passed out to Faksa in the right circle.
Carter scored from the top of the slot at 1:24 of the second period.
Benn tied the game again at 2 with a shot into the upper left corner from the left circle at 5:00.
Each team killed four minutes of penalties in the second period. Los Angeles outshot the Stars 18-7 in the second.
NOTES: Dallas lost two wings to injury in the second period: Patrick Sharp with concussion-like symptoms and Patrick Eaves with a lower-body injury. Ruff indicated that Sharp could miss more time. … Los Angeles D Brayden McNabb was involved in both second-period fights. Stars LW Antoine Roussel received 16 penalty minutes for his role in the first altercation, and totaled 18 minutes for the game. He had 565 PIM in his first 3 1/2 seasons but none in the first three games this season.
UP NEXT:
Kings: Return home to play Vancouver on Saturday.
Stars: Play the second game of a three-game homestand on Saturday against Columbus.
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