Chicago put themselves back into the playoff hunt in minds of some faithful, however, the Blackhawks are four points behind the Colorado Avalanche and today’s opponent Dallas Stars for the two wild-card spots.
Head coach Jeremy Colliton called upon Cam Ward as his starter in net. Dallas head coach Jim Montgomery started Anton Khudobin.
Chicago Blackhawks Starting Lineup
Drake Caggiula–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–Dylan Strome–Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad–Artem Anisimov–Dylan Sikura
Chris Kunitz–Marcus Kruger–John Hayden
Duncan Keith–Brent Seabrook
Slater Koekkoek–Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling–Connor Murphy
PERIOD ONE
Both teams started the game slowly. A few icing and offsides whistles generated zero momentum from either team. Also, the matinee crowd still appeared to be asleep.
Dallas had the best opportunity early, as Dallas found themselves 4-on-2 but Cam Ward came up big with a save. With just over six minutes gone in the game, the teams were tied at 4–4 in shots.
After Slater Koekkoek lost his skate blade, the Stars took the lead when forward Radek Faksa scored his eleventh goal of the season. Faksa’s goal was assisted by newsy acquired forward Mats Zuccarello and center Jason Dickinson.
Mats Zuccarello gets his first assist as a Dallas Star as he sets up Radek Faksa for this breakaway goal. #GoStars pic.twitter.com/5Y5UzN6yf0
— X – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) February 24, 2019
Dallas took a 2–0 lead at the 17:28 mark, when forward Alexander Radulov buried home his 17th goal this season. The goal, assisted by defenseman Miro Heiskanen resulted from a horrible clearing attempt by Gustav Forsling up the middle of the Blackhawks’ own zone.
So pretty. Miro Heiskanen holds the zone and without hesitation, he sets up Rads right in front of the net for a 2-0 lead. #GoStars pic.twitter.com/gnN1LXh4vh
— X – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) February 24, 2019
After the first period, Chicago led in shots 13–12 but were outplayed for most of the second half of the period.
PERIOD TWO
Zuccarello scored his first goal as a member of the Dallas Stars, at the 1:44 mark of the second period, to extend the lead to 3–0. The Norwegian buried a shot past Ward from a nice cross ice pass from center Tyler Seguin.
Welcome to the Stars, @zuccarello36! #GoStars pic.twitter.com/YpBkEiCk6k
— X – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) February 24, 2019
Just over a minute later, Chicago finally dented the net when Chris Kunitz scored his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Marcus Kruger and Duncan Keith. Keith found a streaking Kruger along the left-half boards, who in turn, slid a nice pass to Kunitz between the circles.
Chris comes through!#CHIvsDAL pic.twitter.com/ArdrPFeQkL
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 24, 2019
Drake Caggiula cut the Dallas lead to one with his eleventh goal of the season after an excellent pass form Keith. The goal went to review as the call on the ice was no goal initially. However, the hockey folks back in Toronto deemed it a goal.
FURTHER REVIEW of Drake Caggiula's goal in the 2nd period 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Avqo1Q8WEq
— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) February 24, 2019
Chicago outshot the Stars 20–14 in the second period.
PERIOD THREE
Jonathan Toews tied the game 3–3 with a nice wrist shot whistled by Khudobin’s glove. The goal, Toew’s 29th, was assisted by Gustafsson.
The Captain makes it happen! #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/94wNsaFH8O
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 24, 2019
Jason Spezza scored on a 5-on-3 power play after Chicago took a bench minor for too-many-men on the ice penalty, followed up by a tripping call on Keith less than a minute later. Spezza tipped in a nice pass from Radulov. The goal gave the Stars the lead back at 4 – 3.
SPEZZA!!! The Stars get a 5-on-3 and they make it count, as Radulov connects with Spezza for a PPG to give the Stars a 4-3 lead! #GoStars pic.twitter.com/jMP8IBUuX4
— X – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) February 24, 2019
Chicago found themselves on a four-minute power play to finish the game when defenseman Roman Polak drew blood on a high stick on Dominik Kahun. The Blackhawks saw a few “minor” chances swallowed up by Khudobin and could not even muster a shot after pulling Ward for the extra attacker.
Dallas not only won the game 4–3 but managed to keep Patrick Kane off the scoresheet, snapping his 20-game point streak. Chicago outshot the Stars 14–3 in the third period and 47–29 for the game.
THE GOOD
Chicago took 47 shots on goal, led by Patrick Kane’s seven shots. Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Saad and Cuggiula joined Kane as players with five or more shots in the game.
Falling behind 3 – 0 is never a recipe for success but the Blackhawks showed some character coming back to tie the game before ultimately falling short.
THE BAD
Chicago gave up another power play goal, which was the back-breaker in the third period. Dallas was 1-for-2 on the power play.
Gustav Forsling struggled with his zone exits, one turnover resulting in an easy goal for Dallas. Slater Koekkoek also struggled overall in the defensive end.
For a team that can give up 40 shots on any given night, Ward needed to be better only seeing 29 shots today.
Jamie Benn played only 1:19 but Chicago could not take advantage of the Stars forward being injured early.
Chicago needed four points this weekend against Colorado and Dallas and came away with zero.