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And I Have No Resolutions: Blackhawks 4, Stars 3

Does this mean the Hawks own the Stars now?

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks picked up their second win over the Dallas Stars in less than a week, knocking off their Central Division foes 4-3 at the United Center on Thursday night.

Chicago scored first at the 11:48 mark of the first when Arytom Levshunov capped a period of sustained offensive pressure during a power play:

Three minutes later, Mikko Rantanen tied the game at one when he took advantage of a wide open path to the Chicago net:

Just 13 seconds into the second period, Teuvo Teravainen put the Hawks ahead for good with this power-play goal:

Near the middle of the second, Ilya Mikheyev put the Hawks up 3-1 with this brilliant drive to the net:

Mikheyev scored again at the 3:58 mark of the third period, firing a shot on net that found its way through Jake Oettinger’s gear and into the net:

Dallas tried to spoil the party with a pair of late goals, the first from Jason Robertson with 3:57 left in the game:

Moments after Mikheyev was denied a hat trick when his shot at an empty net hit off the post, Matt Duchene made it a one-goal game with 18 seconds remaining:

But that was as close as the Stars would get.

Notes

Two enjoyable parts of that first Mikheyev goal 1) the excellent play from Grzelcyk, who stepped up at the offensive blue line to help get the puck to the eventual scorer and 2) the way Mikheyev stuck out his left leg to Lindell’s stick from being able to reach the puck.

Levshunov really seems to be feeling himself of late, doesn’t he? That goal gives him five points (1 G, 4 A) in the last six games and he seems to be more and more active on the offensive side of the ice — which is a significant part of the reason why he was drafted No. 2 overall. Levshunov was also extremely noticeable during Tuesday’s game against the Islanders and here’s to more of that from No. 55 throughout the rest of this season.

No points for Lardis in this game and he wasn’t credited with a shot on goal in the 12:27 he skated but there always seems to be a scoring chance or two — or more! — where No. 76 is involved throughout a game that leave you believing he belongs at this level. How high up the lineup he’ll reside is something we’ll determine over the next handful of seasons but, at a very minimum, it seems like the Hawks have a useful NHL player in Lardis because he does something noticeable on an almost nightly basis.

In this game, perhaps the most noticeable Lardis moment came in his own end during the second period when Lardis corralled a loose puck after a flurry of Dallas chances. Instead of skating up the wall with a Dallas player on his back, he spun behind the net to shake the forechecker and then flipped the puck out to the neutral zone, relieving the pressure and allowing some teammates to get off for a change. It’s not just offense where he’s noticeable, either.

Speaking of noticeable, this seemed like one of Andre Burakovsky’s better games in a while. He picked up a pair of assists and seemed to be the creative force behind the Hawks’ most potent line in this game: the one with him, Bertuzzi, and Greene. That trio skated 10:09 together and had advantages of 18-10 in shot attempts, 8-5 in scoring chances and 4-3 in high-danger chances, leading to a solid expected goal share of 75.07 percent when on the ice togheter. With Bedard and Nazar out, the offensive onus needs to be carried by guys like Burakovsky and he did that in this game.

Don’t have any statistical evidence to support this but it felt like the Hawks were especially clean on breakouts during this game and made it a point to use the center of the ice for their breakout passes instead of simply rimming the puck around the boards, hoping for a clear — and it all worked.

A couple of solid outings from Knight this week means we don’t have to talk about what happened on Sunday again, which is a great thing for all parties involved.

The Hawks have 16 games in the first 30 days of January, starting with the one this evening. Eleven of those games are at home. It’s much easier to feel better about this team after a couple of wins in the last week, given how rough the remainder of December was. But that home-heavy schedule gives the Hawks a chance to make things interesting in the standings if they can find a way to put together a little run in this upcoming busy stretch. Some of the secondary scoring that went dormant in November and December appears to be waking up again and if the Hawks get Bedard and Nazar back soon enough, there’s still a possibility for this team to make things interesting into March and April. We’ll find out soon enough.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Ilya Mikheyev (CHI) — 2 goals
  2. Andre Burakovsky (CHI) — 2 assists
  3. Ryan Donato (CHI) — 2 assists

What’s Next

The Blackhawks hit the road for a game on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals at 6 p.m.

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