Darcy Kuemper suffers injury in Kings’ loss to Dallas Stars
DALLAS — Mikko Rantanen, Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston had a goal and an assist each and Casey DeSmith tied a Dallas record with his 11th consecutive game earning points as the Stars rallied past the Kings 4-1 on Monday night.
Oskar Back scored his first NHL winning goal for the Stars, who are second in the overall standings and avoided their first three-game losing streak since mid-October.
DeSmith made 27 saves and is 8-0-3 after losing his first start of the season, matching Ed Belfour’s 8-0-3 run during the 1998-99 season.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored an unassisted five-on-three goal for the Kings, who have lost their last three games and five of seven.
Kings goalie Anton Forsberg stopped 17 shots, entering play with four minutes left in the first period after starter Darcy Kuemper was hit high by Rantanen and sustained an upper-body injury.
L.A. was also without Quinton Byfield and Phillip Danault because of illness.
Duchene’s redirection at the net tied the score 1-1 late in the second period and was his first point in five games since missing 24 games following a concussion in mid-October.
Duchene’s goal came about four minutes after Kuzmenko opened the scoring.
Rantanen skated with the puck from Dallas’ defensive zone and gave Dallas a 3-1 lead with 3:49 to play. Johnston added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Kuemper left after the hit from Rantanen, who skated into the crease with the puck while manned by Brian Dumoulin. Johnston scored seconds after the collision, but the play was ruled goalie interference. Kuemper was soon led off the ice, having made five saves.
Four of Kuzmenko’s five goals this season are power-play goals on a team whose power play ranks last in the NHL at 14.7%.