Kings Pull Star Turn

Mattias Norstrom predicted he would score in overtime. But his boast caused little fuss among his King teammates because he tells them that each time they begin sudden-death play.

“I said it a lot of times before,” he said, “and it never happened.”

This time it came true, giving the Swedish defenseman a nifty present on his 34th birthday and giving the Kings a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars Monday at Staples Center that eased the pain of losing two more players.

Lubomir Visnovsky had brought the Kings even on a power-play blast with 26.8 seconds left in the third period and goalie Mathieu Garon replaced by an extra skater. Norstrom capped the comeback with a shot from the high slot, also on a power play, allowing the Kings to extend their Pacific Division lead over Dallas to four points.

The Stars have played four fewer games, but the resilient Kings are 8-1-1 since Dec. 16.

“We kind of have a quiet confidence,” said Michael Cammalleri, who drew the hooking penalty for the power play on which the Kings tied the score, at 2-2. He also drew the tripping penalty 40 seconds into overtime that led to Norstrom’s power-play goal.

“Whether we’re down a man or a couple of goals, everybody is going to be accountable,” Cammalleri added. “We just keep working hard and working for one another. That’s a pretty good feeling.”

That unity enabled them to overcome adversity again. They began the game with 19 players instead of 20 after defenseman Nathan Dempsey was struck by a stomach virus an hour before the opening faceoff, and they lost feisty forward Dustin Brown late in the first period after he was leveled by Dallas’ Brenden Morrow.

King officials said only that Brown had suffered an upper-body injury, a quaint hockey term employed to obscure injuries and prevent opponents from capitalizing on a player’s weakness. Brown was playing the puck in a crowd when he was hit by Morrow’s arm and shoulder; teammates later said Brown was able to walk under his own power but spoke of being sore in his neck and shoulder area.

King winger Tom Kostopoulos went after Morrow to avenge the hit, a tussle that ended with Kostopoulos on his back on the ice and with each combatant getting a five-minute fighting penalty.

King Coach Andy Murray told OLN during the first intermission that Morrow had led with his elbow and that the hit was “a bit of a cheap shot.” Murray added, “I think the league will take a look at it” for the purpose of meting out supplementary discipline.

Colin Campbell, the NHL’s executive vice president and director of hockey operations, said via e-mail during the game that he had seen Morrow’s hit and that it was “totally legal.” Added Campbell: “Brown was stickhandling in about three Dallas players and almost a fourth

Campbell and other members of the NHL’s hockey operations staff monitor every game for situations in which supplementary discipline might be warranted.

The Stars had taken a 2-0 lead on a first-period power-play goal by Finnish rookie Jussi Jokinen, set up by a long lead pass by Sergei Zubov, and the game’s only even-strength goal, by Jon Klemm through a cluster of bodies at 9:40 of the second period.

The Kings cut Dallas’ lead to 2-1 at 19:59 of the second period on a shot by Visnovsky from the top edge of the right circle. Visnovsky tied it with a shot that struck goalie Marty Turco’s arm and slowly rolled over the goal line.

“That was a huge boost,” King center Craig Conroy said. “The wind came out of their sails.”

And Norstrom, rarely mistaken for Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey, deflated the Stars with his second goal of the season, matching his career-high output.

“Our approach was not, ‘OK, it was a good point for us tonight,’ but, ‘Let’s go for it,’ ” he said.

And they got it. “Happy birthday, Matty,” Cammalleri said, grateful that Norstrom had shared his gift for scoring and prophesy.