KINGS DELIVERANCE ISN'T IN THE STARS DALLAS 4, KINGS, 2.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

DALLAS - Don't ask Steve Passmore if he helped restore order.

Don't think for a minute that Ziggy Palffy feels better just because the team president wasn't yelling at the Kings on Wednesday night.

They couldn't help but improve from their miserable eight-game homestand, but their 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars in front of 17,001 at Reunion Arena wasn't exactly turning the corner.

``I was on the ice when they got the winning goal,'' Palffy said after Mike Modano broke a 2-2 tie with 56 seconds left in regulation. ``I was always on the ice when they scored. It doesn't matter what happened at home. The only way to get back on track is to win.''

For the Kings, that isn't happening. Even though they were more in sync than they were during two weeks at Staples Center, the Kings (24-24-8-1) still are 2-7-1 in their past 10 games.

That slide began Jan. 22 in Philadelphia and now the Kings are at .500 for the first time since Nov. 2. Except for an 8-0 rout of the Stars eight days later, the Kings have struggled for points just when they need them most.

``You can play 82 great games,'' said Passmore, who replaced Jamie Storr in the Kings net. ``But if you don't win any you still don't get any points.''

The Kings headed out of the road four points behind Edmonton for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It was their dreary 6-3 loss to the Oilers on Monday that prompted Kings president Tim Leiweke to give a stern postgame address.

For the first 54 minutes Wednesday, the Kings answered Leiweke's challenge.

When former King Darryl Sydor scored on the power play at the 12:08 mark of the second period, Mathieu Schneider came back with a goal less than two minutes later.

Schneider missed Monday's game with bruised left hip, but played more than 20 minutes against the Stars.

Jozef Stumpel, the team's top center, did not play, however. The Kings were hoping to get him back to open the five-game trip, but after testing a strained right hamstring during the morning workout, Stumpel told the team he was not ready to return.

Wednesday's game was tied heading into the third period, but just a minute later, Jere Lehtinen gave the Stars the lead with an ofalance shot from the right corner that struck Passmore's stick then slithered into the net.

But five minutes later, Bob Corkum beat Stars goaltender Ed Belfour with a power-play goal to tie the game at 2.

Modano, who entered the game just one point behind Neal Broten for the franchise scoring record, already tied the mark on Lehtinen's first goal.

But in the final minute, he skated beyond the right faceoff circle, turned around and fired. The puck hit a stick in traffic and sailed past Passmore.

``I don't mean to spoil the party, but he did not score on the record goal,'' Passmore said. ``Somebody else did.''

Passmore was gone by the time Lehtinen scored his second of the game into an empty net with 26 seconds left. Although the Kings held the Stars' top winger Brett Hull without a shot, Lehtinen had five.

Passmore made his first start in net since Jan. 16 when he gave up five goals in a 7-6 victory over Ottawa. He was brought in Wednesday after Storr was pulled in the Kings' previous two games.

He also took over for Storr in the final week of December and beat the Stars here. It was the second of back-to-back victories for Passmore on the road and the Kings seemed to regain their form.

Then they lost consecutive games to Detroit and Colorado and Storr was back in goal.

Kings coach Andy Murray said he doesn't know if he will use Passmore on Friday in Minnesota.

``You want to feel like you contributed,'' said Passmore, who stropped 20 of 23 shots. ``But I let in the winning goal that should have been stopped.. How good should I feel?.''

Western Conference standings

W L T OL Pts

1. Colorado 36 11 8 2 82

2. St. Louis 36 11 7 2 81

3. Detroit 33 16 5 4 75

4. San Jose 31 15 10 0 72

5. Dallas 32 19 5 1 70

6. Phoenix 26 17 12 2 66

7. Vancouver 28 19 5 4 65

8. Edmonton 26 23 9 1 62

9. Nashville 24 26 7 2 57

9. Los Angeles 24 25 81 57

14. Anaheim 16 31 8 4 44

Two points for a win, one point for a tie and overtime loss.

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Box: Western Conference standings (see text)