The Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars played the first hockey game at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dallas defeated the Kings by a 6-3 scoreline to win the opening Frozen Fury game 6-3.

Both sides get a goal in the first period

There were only 22 seconds gone in the first period when Andy Andreoff got a turnover in the Dallas zone. He hit a weak shot which the Dallas Stars netminder held with ease. Early on in the game, the Kings’ forechecking was bothering the Stars as they could barely get a hold of the puck. That paid dividends because the Kings were able to go on the power play.

Los Angeles capitalized on their first power play of the night. Tyler Toffoli rifled a shot near the crease. 24-year-old Michael Mersch was shielding the Stars goalie and was able to tip the shot into the back of the net.

Dallas got their equalizing goal on a 4-on-4 play with nine minutes remaining in the opening period. Patrik Nemeth had a tip of his own, which Jeff Zatkoff stopped. However, Zatkoff left a huge rebound and Nemeth made no mistake this time around.

Dallas scores three in second to take commanding lead

Last season, the Dallas Stars were the highest scoring team in the National Hockey League. The Stars scored 265 times throughout the course of the regular season, and had a 17 goal advantage over the second highest scoring team, the Washington Capitals. That offense made an appearance at the Frozen Fury with the Stars scoring four times in the second to take a 4-2 lead.

At 17:16 in the second period, the Dallas Stars managed to get their first lead. Julius Honka made some great moves, as he moved the puck between the legs after getting a pass from Jiri Hudler. Then, Honka found all kinds of space down the middle of the ice before firing his shot high past Zatkoff.

The Kings did manage to level things up at two with a 11:22 left in the second stanza. Their goal was similar to the first one in the first period. Tom Gilbert hit a shot, which was going wide of the goal, but Dustin Brown managed to get tip it past Antti Niemi.

There was a scramble in front of the net at the 8:17 mark in the second. Eventually, the puck found Johnny Oduya. The former Chicago Blackhawk then slid the puck behind the Los Angeles Kings goalie. Dallas got a bit of a luck with their third goal of the period, 33 seconds after their previous one. Radek Faksa and Patrick Sharp finished off a give-and-go with the former deflecting the puck off of Jake Muzzin and past a helpless Zatkoff.

Dallas Stars score three times in the second to take commanding lead. | Photo: Dallas Stars
Dallas Stars score three times in the second to take commanding lead. | Photo: Dallas Stars

Kings cannot complete comeback, Stars score twice more

With just 11 minutes to go in the game, the Los Angeles Kings made it 4-3. A Dallas turnover in their own zone proved to be costly this time around. Brayden McNabb found the puck in the left corner before feeding a streaking Nic Dowd. The Alabama native scored from a tight angle.

The Kings' momentum faded rather quickly. Nemeth scored his second goal of the night, with four minutes and 20 seconds remaining, after finishing off a rush into LA's zone. To wrap up the game, Jason Spezza sent a shot a long ways down the ice to find the empty net to score his team's sixth and final goal.

Coming up

Los Angeles Kings will play one more preseason game as they take on the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night in Las Vegas.

The Dallas Stars have ended their preseason with tonight's victory. Their focus is now on the regular season, when they play the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.

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