Dallas Stars Lose 3-2 In Heartbreaker To Blackhawks

It was definitely a strong and respectable effort, but the Dallas Stars could not find a way to round up a win tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks at home. Still, they put up a strong fight.

The Chicago Blackhawks wasted no time getting on the board. 11 seconds after the first puck drop, Richard Panik scored from a sharp angle on Antti Niemi just before the referee blew the whistle. But the Stars used this early goal simply as motivation.

At the 7:21 mark of the first, Brett Ritchie scored to tie the game at 1-1 after a beautiful pass from Antoine Roussel. Curtis McKenzie scored 2:28 later to take the 2-1 lead for Dallas, which they took into the locker room at the end of the first.

The second period was where the tide turned. The Hawks found the net twice thanks to Ryan Hartman at the 2:59 mark and Patrick Kane on the power play a few minutes later. The Blackhawks took a 3-2 lead into the third period.

Though the Dallas Stars gave it their all in the third period, they ended up falling just short. The Hawks claimed the 3-2 win for their fifth in a row.

Thoughts and Observations

Don’t choke on your whistle

Perhaps the biggest debate of tonight’s game was the timing of the official’s whistles. Just 11 seconds into the game, the Hawks scored to take the lead. The only problem is, there was a review to see if the whistle had been blown before the puck crossed the line. Though that wasn’t the case and the goal was good, there was the question of whether the whistle should have been blown prior to the goal.

The same problem occurred later in the game, only this time the whistle was blown too early. Wouldn’t you know that it was the Stars in hunt of the game-tying goal. As multiple Dallas Stars players crashed the net with less than a minute to go, Corey Crawford searched for a way out. The goaltender partially covered the puck for a second before it popped back out into play.

The only problem is, the officials blew the whistle and gave the Hawks the benefit of the doubt. During the replay, it was clear that Jamie Benn beat Crawford on the blocker side immediately after he coughed up the puck. The officiating was definitely a touchy subject in tonight’s game.

Stars lose Spezza to ANOTHER injury

Late in the second period of tonight’s game, Stars forward Jason Spezza exited the game and headed for the locker room. He ended up missing the remainder of the contest.

After the game, it was reported that Spezza could miss a “little bit of time” and definitely won’t play tomorrow. They will need to call up a forward from the AHL (probably Justin Dowling) just to have a healthy 12-forward lineup. They still cannot catch a break on the injury front.

Multiple Stars were all over the place

Esa Lindell may have played his best game as a Dallas Stars forward tonight. He put four shots on net and logged three hits (one of which was rather huge). Dan Hamhuis also stood tall on the blue line and led the Stars with seven hits.

The player of them game has to go to Stephen Johns though. The sophomore defender finished with an assist, a +2 on-ice rating, one shot on goal and three hits. There were plenty of Stars contributing tonight on numerous fronts that helped string together a valiant effort.

The final stat line

The Stars finished the night outshooting the Hawks 33-32, evened out in the face-off dot (50%-50%), severely outhit Chicago 30-5, and blocked 13 shots to the Blackhawks’ 18. The Stars went 0/3 on the power play and 5/6 on the penalty kill.

Next: Stars Must Square Up Against Central Division Gauntlet

Antti Niemi finished the night 29-32 between the pipes (.906 save percentage). That being said, Kari Lehtonen will probably take the next start.

And that next start is just a couple of hours away. The Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks will head for the skies in route to the Windy City for a second act. The Stars and Hawks will square off tomorrow night at 6:00 from the United Center. Be prepared for an intense round two.

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