KINGS NOTEBOOK: STARS: NO LAUGHING MATTER.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

The Dallas Stars had just six scoring chances in Tuesday's 8-0 loss at Staples Center, but they took their shots at the Kings on Thursday.

Before the Stars morning workout at the San Jose Arena, coach Ken Hitchcock blistered the Kings for taunting his club in the final minutes with the game far out of reach.

``We've had everybody bite at us,'' Hitchcock told reporters before his game against the Sharks. ``I'm not ever going to forget as a coach what Los Angeles and its players did at the end of the game, the things they did on the bench. I'm not going to forget it for the rest of my life.''

Hitchcock would not elaborate on what touched him off, but Kings coach Andy Murray said it probably stemmed from a playful incident between Luc Robitaille and Stu Grimson in the final minutes of the game.

Robitaille had just scored his second goal of the game and Murray said it is customary to send a player back out if he is capable of getting a hat trick. Murray didn't want Robitaille to score again but told Grimson it was unlikely Robitaille would come off the ice.

A Grimson one-liner touched off laughter on Kings bench with just over a minute to play that might have been interpreted as a slight at the Stars. Then with half a minute to play, Grimson started banging his stick against the boards to get Robitaille to make a line change, a request that was obliged in the waning seconds as the Kings bench laughed again within earshot of Dallas assistant Doug Jarvis.

``I can believe Hitch would feel that way,'' Murray said. ``We didn't play Rob Blake the final seven minutes of the game. We didn't use our top power-play unit the last three minutes. He knows I have too much respect for his organization to ever do anything like that.''

Murray and Jarvis were assistants with the Minnesota North Stars under Bob Gainey, now the Stars general manager. In December, Murray ripped Colorado coach Bob Hartley for leaving in Joe Sakic in a blowout even after Sakic recorded a hat trick.

``This will be big in Canada, believe me,'' Murray said.

The Kings and Stars meet again Feb. 14 in Dallas.