DEADMARSH IS DEAD ON FOR THE KINGS HE AND POTVIN HELP L.A. STAY AHEAD OF DALLAS IN STANDINGS KINGS 2, DALLAS 1.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

In a scene that fans of the U.S. Olympic hockey team would love to see repeated later this month, Adam Deadmarsh scored a goal against Ed Belfour on Monday night.

Later this week, Deadmarsh and the Americans will be battling for a medal in Salt Lake City, along with Belfour and the Canadian team. But Monday night was about the Western Conference playoff standings, not the Olympics, and Deadmarsh's first-period goal helped the Kings to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars in front of 18,118 at Staples Center.

With only Wednesday's game against Phoenix remaining before the 12-day Olympic break, the Kings moved back into a tie with idle Edmonton for sixth place in the conference and prevented the Stars from passing them in the standings.

It was also a tremendous comeback for Kings goalkeeper Felix Potvin,who recovered from the six-goal debacle Friday night. Potvin made several tough saves while killing penalties in the first period and finished with 32 saves.

Belfour, suffering through an atypical poor season, did not face many tough scoring chances and saved 13 of 15 shots. Belfour was beaten with 6:40 remaining in the third period, when Ziggy Palffy picked up his own rebound and beat the sprawling goalkeeper.

Dallas' Pierre Turgeon added a goal in the final minute with the Stars'net empty.

The game had little rhythm at the start, and didn't open up until the Stars went on the power play for the first time midway through the period. At that time, they had only one shot on goal, but just 23 seconds into the power play, Mike Modano picked up a hard rebound from the boards and fired at the net. Potvin slid across to make a glove save.

Mattias Norstrom then went off for holding the stick, giving the Stars a two-man advantage for 36 seconds.

Twice in those 36 seconds, Potvin made point-blank saves, first when Sergei Zubov fired a one-time from the side of the net and the second when Jamie Langenbrunner fed Pierre Turgeon in front of the net for a shot that Potvin had to fully extend his glove hand to grab.

Potvin helped the Kings kill another power play, and then the Kings went on a man advantage of their own with 3:40 remaining when Derian Hatcher went off for interference.

Twenty-two seconds into the power play, Jaroslav Modry dropped a perfect pass to the blue line for Mathieu Schneider.

Schneider fired a slap shot, and Deadmarsh, running interference in front of Belfour, barely got a piece of the puck with his stick to redirect it into the net.

The energy level remained high in the second period, but the number of solid scoring chances dipped. The Stars controlled the early part of the period but the Kings began to control the neutral zone as the period progressed and put more pressure on Belfour.

Dallas had the best scoring chance of the period when Scott Pellerin had a point-blank shot inside 10 feet of the crease, but Potvin made the glove save 6:47 into the period.

A little more than halfway through the period, Dallas' Pat Verbeek and the Kings' Craig Johnson each received roughing penalties, but Verbeek was also called for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Kings buzzed the net throughout the power play, but missed their best scoring chance when Palffy whiffed on a one-timer from the right faceoff circle.

With 30 seconds remaining, the Kings had a 2-on-1 break, but Palffy chose to keep the puck rather than pass it. He pulled up and found the trailing Bryan Smolinski in the slot, but Smolinski could not put enough power on the shot and Belfour saved it easily.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Kings' Mikko Eloranta rushes the goal and upends the Stars' Ed Belfour in first-period action Monday at Staples Center.

(2) Aaron Miller, left, and Mattias Norstrom block out Derian Hatcher, allowing Kings goalie Felix Potvin to deflect the puck.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer