KINGS BEAT THE BEST PALFFY SCORES TWICE IN THIRD PERIOD; POTVIN SOLID KINGS 2, DALLAS 0.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

Staples Center, with its massive square footage, will never be considered cozy quarters for any of its occupants, but the Kings seemed to enjoy their homecoming Saturday.

Coming off a brutal 17-day road trip, the Kings battled hard for two periods, then got two third-period goals from Ziggy Palffy and defeated the Dallas Stars 2-0 in front of 18,292, a victory even more impressive since the Stars have the NHL's best record.

Dallas spent most of the third period putting heavy pressure on Kings goalie Felix Potvin, but it was the Kings who finally broke the spirited but scoreless deadlock.

Erik Rasmussen drove behind the net and, as he was being taken down, managed to work the puck out front to defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who put a slap shot on Dallas goalie Marty Turco.

Turco deflected the puck to his left, but right onto the stick of Palffy, who scored into the uncovered net with 5:13 left in the game. Palffy added an empty-net goal with 15 seconds left.

Potvin made the lead stand up and recorded his second shutout of the season and the 27th of his career.

Dallas coach Dave Tippett, a former Kings assistant, made his name around the league in part because of his work last season with the Kings' top-ranked power-play unit, but the Stars failed on all four of their chances with the man advantage against the Kings.

Considering their recent brutal schedule, the Kings showed a surprising amount of spark in the first two periods. Palffy drew a hooking penalty on Dallas' Richard Matvichuk 29 seconds into the game, but the Kings could not score despite three shots.

The game then turned wacky for a few minutes. Penalties to Andreas Lilja and Craig Johnson gave the Stars a two-man advantage for 1:10, but just 20 seconds later, Stars forward Bill Guerin went off for tripping.

Dallas put only sporadic pressure on Potvin, although they did force him to make a couple of tough saves, particularly midway through the period when Potvin had to make a glove save on a shot by Mike Modano after a neutral-zone turnover by Palffy.

The Kings put two more excellent scoring chances on Turco but came up empty. Midway through the period, Turco mishandled a puck and ended up out of position. Kings defenseman Mattias Norstrom shot the back as Turco scrambled into position, but Bryan Smolinski couldn't knock the puck in.

Five minutes later, Turco made a nice save on a shot by Rasmussen, who was on a 2-on-1 break with Palffy.

That strong offensive play carried over to the second period, as the Kings recorded 15 shots on goal but again couldn't put one in the net. Dallas matched the Kings' intensity for much of the period, but Potvin made 10 saves.

The Kings went on the power play 1:32 into the period but recorded just one shot, and 30 seconds after the power play ended, Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas made a nice stop when Kings forward Alexander Frolov cut to the front of the net.

Dallas went on the power play 6:30 into the period when Smolinski went off for high sticking, but couldn't record any strong scoring chances until just after the advantage ended, when Potvin had to scramble to cover the rebound of a slap shot by Scott Young.

Potvin also made a point-blank save on a shot by Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov, who stepped into the offensive zone, found some open ice and got off a clean shot. Potvin made the relatively easy glove save.

The Kings had several strong scoring chances in the period, but none prettier than the move by rookie forward Mike Cammalleri, who drove down the left side, switched the puck from forehand to backhand to forehand again and forced Turco to make a glove save on his wrist shot.

Seven minutes into the period, Dallas lost forward Ulf Dahlan when teammate Derian Hatcher checked Kings forward Ian Laperriere, who was sandwiched between the two Stars. Dahlan suffered facial cuts.

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Photo:

The Kings' Mattias Norstrom (14) battles the Dallas Stars' Brenden Morrow for the puck.

Edna T. Simpson/Daily News