Blackhawks visit red-hot Stars

The Blackhawks start a five-game stretch against Central Division opponents when they visit the red-hot Stars for the first game of an extended home-and-home Saturday at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The two teams meet again Tuesday night in Chicago.

The Blackhawks (9-9-4) have dropped two straight after a 4-2 home loss to the Lightning on Thursday night at the United Center. Chicago’s offense sputtered against the Hurricanes and Tampa Bay with only two goals in each game after scoring four-plus in each of Chicago’s previous four games. Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton opted to dress 11 forwards and seven defenseman Thursday in order to get defenseman Slater Koekkoek in the game against his former team, but the lineup change left captain Jonathan Toews and others looking for answers.

It wasn’t all bad for the Blackhawks, who saw Patrick Kane record his 600th career assist to extend his point streak to 11 games. He has eight goals and 12 assists during his point streak and leads the team with 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) in 22 games. His linemates, Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome, are tied for for second in team scoring with 17 points each.

Dominik Kubalik will draw back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for his play off the puck against Carolina. The 24-year-old NHL rookie has five goals and nine points in 20 games.

Robin Lehner will start in net after Corey Crawford stopped 31 of 34 shots against Tampa Bay on Thursday. Lehner is 5-4-2 with a .934 save percentage and a 10.99 goals-saved above average this season. In nine career games against Dallas, he’s only 2-5-1 with a .883 save percentage.

Dallas (13-8-2) won its fifth straight Thursday with a 5-3 victory over the Jets. The Stars have outscored opponents 23-11 in that span with at least four goals in its last four.

Tyler Seguin leads Dallas in scoring with 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) ahead of second-year defenseman Miro Heiskanen’s 17 points (six goals, 11 assists). Roope Hintz is the Stars’ leading goal scorer with nine.

Dallas has fared well on faceoffs and on the penalty kill, two areas that could cause troubles for Chicago. The Stars are fourth in the league at the dot compared the Blackhawks’ woeful 22nd, and seventh on the penalty kill to Chicago’s 28th-ranked power play.

Anton Khudobin will start in net for Dallas. He’s 5-3-1 with a .921 save percentage and 3.30 GSAA this season, and has only given up nine goals in his last six starts.

Series history

The Blackhawks have won three of their last four against the Stars after losing four straight. Chicago outscored Dallas 8-2 last season, with Kane scoring four goals and two assists in the series to lead all skaters.

Tale of the tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Stars

46.3% (29th) — Corsi For — 49.7% (19th)

48.9% (t-22nd) — Faceoffs — 52.9% (4th)

2.95 (17th) — Goals per game — 2.87 (19th)

2.95 (19th) — Goals against per game — 2.39 (29th)

13.2% (28th) — Power play — 13.6% (27th)

79.7% (18th) — Penalty kill — 84.3% (7th)

Lineups

*Lineups will be updated, if needed

Blackhawks

Saad — Toews — Nylander

DeBrincat — Strome — Kane

Shaw — Kampf — Kubalik

Carpenter — Dach — Smith

Keith — Gustafsson

De Haan — Seabrook

Maatta — Murphy

Lehner

Crawford

Stars

Benn — Dowling — Seguin

Pavelski — Hintz — Radulov

Cogliano — Faksa — Comeau

Janmark — Dickinson — Perry

Lindell — Klingberg

Oleksiak — Heiskanen

Sekera — Polak

Khudobin

Bishop

How to watch

When: 7 p.m.

Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas

TV: NBC Sports Chicago

Live stream: NBC Sports app