The Blackhawks scored a power-play goal for the second consecutive contest but couldn’t generate any offense at 5-on-5 against a sound Stars’ defense.
The Chicago Blackhawks lost 2-1 to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Sunday afternoon. Corey Crawford made 31 saves to keep the game close, but the Hawks’ offense couldn’t get anything going against one of the NHL’s top defensive units.
“They’re a good team,” Brandon Saad said. “They do all of the little things right and they compete hard. We thought we were with them for most of the game. They got a couple of bounces in front of the net and they capitalized, but we had our fair share of chances, too. I thought it was a pretty hard-fought game.”
With the loss, the Blackhawks are 3-7-2 in their past 12 games and 27-27-8 on the season. With just 20 games remaining, they are seven points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild-card playoff spot and will likely be sellers before Monday’s trade deadline.
RECAP
Crawford was tested early and often on Sunday, as the Stars were the better team out of the gate. In what could have been his last game as a member of the Blackhawks, he sure looked like the same goaltender that won two Stanley Cups in three years not too long ago.
Moments after Stars’ goaltender Anton Khudobin stopped Alex DeBrincat on a 2-on-1, Joe Pavelski beat Crawford with a wrist shot at 15:20 from in tight to open the scoring. Duncan Keith and Slater Koekkoek seemed to get mixed up in coverage and left Pavelski all alone in front of the net.
The Hawks escaped the first period down just one goal thanks to Crawford, but the Stars held a significant advantage in several statistics at even-strength.
2ND PERIOD
Dominik Kubalik appeared to tie the score with a one-timer while on the powerplay, but the officials blew the play dead and called Jonathan Toews for interference. The officials haven’t been too courteous to the Blackhawks in the last couple of weeks, but this call might just take the cake.
Less than two minutes after the Blackhawks powerplay had a goal waved off, Kubalik rifled another one-timer past Khudobin with a man-advantage to tie the score 1-1. Patrick Kane extended his point streak to five games with the primary assist.
Kubalik now has 26 goals on the season, which leads all NHL rookies. The 24-year-old winger also has 23 goals at even-strength, which is 12 more than Martin Necas, who has the second-most among first-year players.
Dallas took two more penalties in the five minutes following Kubalik’s goal, but the Hawks were unable to capitalize on the opportunities to take the lead.
Tyler Seguin put the Stars up 2-1 late in the period after Corey Perry made a fantastic play to knock the puck out of midair and find him alone in front of Crawford.
With 3:00 remaining, Mattias Janmark was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked by Keith on a breakaway, but Crawford made a big pad save to keep the Blackhawks within a goal.
3RD PERIOD
The Blackhawks controlled the puck for the majority of the opening 10 minutes, but the Stars defense was tremendous and held them to only four shots on goal. There is a reason why Dallas is the third-best team in the Western Conference despite not having a 20-goal scorer.
With Crawford off for the extra attacker in the final minutes, the Blackhawks conjured up a couple of decent chances to tie the score. Khudobin stopped them all though, as he finished with 31 saves to secure the win.
“We came up short, but we played a really good hockey game,” Crawford said. “I thought our powerplay was moving it around and we got some good looks. We battled hard.”
Something to note, Blackhawks defenseman Lucas Carlsson skated 14:55 with three hits and a blocked shot in his NHL debut vs. Dallas. Carlsson looked comfortable and certainly didn’t lack any confidence with the puck, as the 22-year-old Swede made a couple of nifty plays in the offensive zone.
“It was fun, obviously,” Carlsson said. “I was a bit nervous at the start, but I think I got into it pretty quickly.”
UP NEXT
The Blackhawks have Monday off before they take on the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night. The last time these two teams met on Dec. 14, the Blackhawks blew a 3-0 lead in the third period to lose 4-3. Jake Allen and the Blues also shutout the Hawks 4-0 on Dec. 2 in the first meeting.
Despite Vladimir Tarasenko missing most of the season with a shoulder injury, St. Louis is still 35-17-10 through 62 games and are atop of the Western Conference. The Central division has become quite a fight, as the top three teams are all within two points of each other.
The contest is slated for 7:00 p.m. CT and is scheduled to be on NBCSN and NHL.TV.
For more Blackhawks news and updates, follow the author (@JackBushman2) on Twitter. Make sure to check out the author’s podcast, Talkin’ Hawkey, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Twitter (@TalkinHawkey).
