Stars Control Third, Beat Blackhawks 6-3 – Postgame

The Dallas Stars sent the Chicago Blackhawks and the entire Western Conference a message.  That message?  Look out.  The Stars defeated the Blackhawks 6-3 less than 24 hours after beating the Washington Capitals 5-4.  Clearly Ondrej Pavelec made the Stars scorers angry as they have exploded for 11 goals in two games since Pavelec stole a win from them last Thursday.  The Stars have one game remaining before the All-Star Break and it will be against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.  The full-game recap of tonight’s contest is below.

Recap

The game started and the Stars immediately looked like they were on the second end of a back-to-back.  The Blackhawks spent the entire first three minutes of the game in the Stars zone and sent six shots towards Kari Lehtonen during that timeframe.  Soon after Chicago’s early period domination, Tyler Seguin would have multiple scoring chances.  It started with Seguin missing an open net and looking to the sky.  Shortly after that, Seguin ripped the puck past Corey Crawford off a faceoff win by Jamie Benn to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.  A few minutes later, the Blackhawks were given a powerplay opportunity but it was the Stars that took advantage.  After a long shift, an exhausted Jamie Benn headed down the ice with Cody Eakin and Benn fed Eakin a great pass.  Eakin did the rest and it went down as a shorthanded goal to give the Stars a 2-0 lead.  The Blackhawks responded quickly as a rebound of a Stars defender fell right to Patrick Kane who sailed it past Lehtonen to cut the Stars lead in half.  Not long after the Kane goal, Jordie Benn took one of the strangest penalties as he chopped the stick of Marian Hossa and it went flying up near the safety netting.  The Blackhawks made Jordie Benn pay for that mistake as Brandon Saad put another rebound home and tied the game at two.  That wasn’t it for the scoring in the first however.  With less than a minute to go, John Klingberg spied Vernon Fiddler hanging out in front of Crawford and it took Fiddler two shots but he got it by Crawford to restore the Stars lead.  It was 3-2 after one period of play.

To start the second period the two teams appeared to have flipped roles from the first.  The Stars spent over a minute in the Blackhawks end of the ice but were unable to get a fourth goal by Crawford.  Five minutes into the second, Fiddler smacked a rebound just wide of the post which would have given him his second goal of the night.  Not long after that, Ben Smith rang the puck off the pipe behind Lehtonen.  The action continued and the Hawks were able to tie the game when Saad spinned a wrister past Lehtonen for his second of the game.  As these two teams have shown all season, there is never a dull moment in the game.  A minute after the Saad goal, Colton Sceviour walked in alone on Crawford but was denied, and then Seguin had a glorious chance on the rebound but Crawford turned that aside as well.  Then at the other end of the rink, Shawn Horcoff absolutely flattened Patrick Sharp and the fans witnessed something that nobody could have predicted.  Shawn Horcoff and Patrick Sharp dropped the gloves and fought and it is probably safe to say we will never see that again.  The period ended how the first started for the Hawks, as they peppered Lehtonen continuously with shots but were unable to get one by the Finnish netminder.  The Stars and Hawks went into the third in a familiar position, all tied up.

The Stars looked like anything but a tired team in the third period.  They were awarded an early powerplay chance and they were not going to be denied on it.  John Klingberg sent a long pass up the ice to Jamie Benn.  Benn found Seguin alone to the right of Crawford and Seguin quickly tapped it over to Eakin who had a slam dunk and the Stars were suddenly up 4-3 early in the third.  They were not done there, as Ales Hemsky had a beautiful opportunity set up by Erik Cole but was unable to convert.  That line would be involved in their next shift as well, as Erik Cole took a 2-on-1 pass from Jason Spezza and beat Crawford for a 5-3 Dallas lead.  With about four minutes to play, Kari Lehtonen made a crucial save on a deflected shot and it seemed to calm down the Stars.  Shawn Horcoff iced the game with an empty-netter and the Stars won 6-3.

Thoughts and Observations

-Despite giving up three goals, Kari Lehtonen played one of his best games of the season.  He tracked the puck really well and never gave up on the play.  He is a big reason the Stars were able to survive that first period flurry.

-Benn and Seguin seem to have broken out of their slumps.  Benn had three assists in the game and Seguin had two points.  Sceviour is a good player on that line.

-It may have had to do with energy more than anything, but the Horcoff-Fiddler-Moen trio played as much as the Cole-Spezza-Hemsky trio.  Hemsky sounds like he is a little banged up, the All-Star Break is coming at a pretty good time for the Stars.

-This was the first win for the Stars on the second end of a back-to-back.  They have now played in Chicago three times this season, all three coming with the Stars having played the night before.  They are 1-1-1 in those games.

-The Dallas Stars are now two points back of the Calgary Flames for eighth in the Western Conference.

Keep reading Blackout Dallas for your Stars coverage and make sure to visit the site on Tuesday for a preview of Stars/Bruins.  Go Stars!