Stu Grimson, Heady Player?

The request from management was for a goal from somebody, anybody, as long as he was on the third or fourth Kings’ line.

There had been too much pressure lately on Ziggy Palffy and Luc Robitaille to do the scoring.

Third line: Kelly Buchberger, Bob Corkum, Nelson Emerson.

Fourth line: Ian Laperriere, Eric Belanger . . . uh, Stu Grimson.

Go figure.

Better known as the Grim Reaper for his physical play, Grimson used his head--literally--in scoring in the opening period of the Kings’ 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars before an announced 14,425 Thursday night at Staples Center.

Grimson, among the most popular Kings in the locker room because of the way he does his job--which is exact vengeance--was planted in front of Star goalie Marty Turco when Belanger and Laperriere won the puck in a scrum on the end boards early in the opening period.

Laperriere sent the puck Grimson’s way and Turco deflected it--off Grimson’s helmet and over the goalie’s shoulder and into the net.

“He plays soccer,” said Luc Robitaille, laughing at the header. “I think that’s how he got that goal.”

It was Laperriere’s first assist of the season.

It was Grimson’s first goal and first point as a King. He has 14 goals in 13 NHL seasons. That’s 647 games.

“No, I don’t remember them all,” he said. “And there haven’t been that many. I particularly don’t remember goals that hit my head. I didn’t see it. I was trying to get out of the way, but I have a mark on my helmet where it hit.”

Grimson’s goal followed that of Palffy--his NHL-leading 19th--by only 1:29 and gave the Kings a 2-0 lead with only 3:08 played. Robitaille and Bryan Smolinski added second-period goals and Craig Johnson scored in the third for the Kings, who beat Dallas for only the second time in their last 26 games.

The Stars got goals by Brett Hull and Darryl Sydor, both on third-period power plays. The second was one of five minutes, assessed when Aki Berg sent Dallas rookie Tyler Bouck into the boards, opening a cut near his eye.

That play ended Berg’s evening at 11:54 and will be reviewed by the league to see if it merits supplementary discipline.

Sydor’s goal came 2:23 into the power play on the final of a flurry of four shots. The Kings killed off the rest of the man disadvantage, giving up only one more shot.

By evening’s end, Dallas had eight power plays totaling 15:42.

The two goals dented King goalie Stephane Fiset’s bid for a shutout in his second game since recovering from a knee injury suffered in the exhibition season.

“I wasn’t thinking about a shutout,” he said. “They’ve got too many guys who can score on that team.”

He also wasn’t thinking about his record against the Stars, which was 3-14-1 before Thursday night.

“To be honest with you, I thought that was my first win against them,” he said, laughing.

His job was made easier by the Palffy and Grimson goals, scored early, and by a King defense that swept away rebounds all night. Dallas had 31 shots on goal and outshot the Kings, 24-14, over the last two periods.

The Stars were playing for the second time in as many nights, and the Kings pressed the issue, particularly with the two early goals.

“We shot ourselves in the foot right off the hop,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We knew their team was sitting there in ninth place, desperate, and we just turned it over. . . . It was a real lesson for all of us, that we have to be right on the mark just to be competitive [in the Western Conference].”

Palffy’s goal came on a breakaway when Jozef Stumpel took the puck from the Stars’ Joe Nieuwendyk at the blue line and sent it forward.

“You give them a little space and they’re going to take advantage of it,” Sydor said. “It all starts with the start and we weren’t prepared. As players we weren’t there and we let a lot of people down.”

Grimson was there, taking matters into his own, uh, head.

And now . . .

“The floodgates open,” he promised.