Dallas Stars winger Alexander Radulov revealed after Thursday night’s 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings that he was benched for the final 10:20 of the first period.

“I got benched,” he said via Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. “It was the right decision by the coach. I wasn’t playing good and I talked back with [head coach Jim Montgomery] and he basically sat me until the end of the [first] period. It’s the right decision and I can’t do that. It’s been an issue in my career, but I got to learn from it. I got to be better.”

“Every decision we make is what’s best for the Dallas Stars,” Montgomery said after Dallas’ fourth loss in a row. “At that moment, I thought that was best for the Dallas Stars.”

Radulov had just 3:39 of ice time in the first period as the struggling Stars’ offence was held off the scoreboard. He returned for the second frame and finished the game with 19:09 of ice time, only slightly below his season average of 19:44. He tallied eight shifts in both the second and third periods.

The 32-year-old has 14 goals and 26 assists in 38 games for Dallas this season. He picked up an assist in the third on the Stars’ only goal of the game.

The Stars (23-21-4) will be back in action Saturday night against the Winnipeg Jets (31-14-2) , who are coming off a commanding 5-1 win over the Nashville Predators Thursday night.