An eight-game winning streak was no match for the unstoppable juggernaut that is the Chicago Blackhawks, who snapped the Dallas’ Stars red-hot stretch of play with a 3-2 victory on Saturday afternoon at the United Center.
There was no scoring in the first period despite the Stars owning a 14-6 advantage in shots on goal — a theme which would continue throughout the game.
Early in the second period, though, during a Chicago power play, the Blackhawks struck first thanks to this laser from Connor Bedard:
About a minute later, Andreas Athanasiou doubled Chicago’s lead with his first goal of the season but the real star of the play was Lukas Reichel, who picked up the primary assist:
Three minutes after that goal, Seth Jones made it a 3-0 Chicago lead:
At this point in the game, the scoreboard made zero sense.
Some market correction arrived later in the second, starting with this goal from Roope Hintz:
It took the Stars 15 minutes of the third period to get within one of the Blackhawks, with Jamie Benn’s goal providing the honors:
But Dallas would get no closer as Chicago hung on for a 3-2 win.
Notes
- Just a comically lopsided game from a possession perspective. During the 49:42 of 5-on-5 ice time in this game, Dallas owned hysterical advantages of 77-30 in shot attempts, 41-16 in shots on goal, 33-20 in scoring chances, 16-4 in high-danger chances and a borderline absurd 3.5-0.83 in expected goals, good for a ridiculous 80.75 expected goal share. The Blackhawks had no business winning this game.
- Here’s where we’ll start giving flowers to the Chicago player who deserves them more than anyone else after this game and probably after this season overall, too. Mrazek came to Chicago from Toronto after a disastrous season there and he wasn’t that great last season during his initial run with the Blackhawks. But he’s been pretty damn good this season, one of the most consistent performers on a team that didn’t have many. Would’ve been easy for Mrazek to keep it in cruise control and simply collect a paycheck for this team, which wasn’t going anywhere from the start. But he’s singlehandedly guided this team to victory on multiple occasions — a true professional this season. Wouldn’t suck if he was still around — perhaps backing up Drew Commesso or Adam Gajan — in some capacity when this team is good again as some sort of reward for what he’s done this season.
- Here’s hoping we see that version of Reichel long before April next season.
- In the future, 5-on-5 performances this poor would be cause for disappointment or even alarm if the Blackhawks are in a place where they’re playing for more than the draft lottery. In the present, though? This one’s pretty damn hilarious.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Petr Mrazek (CHI) — 42 saves on 44 shots
- Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 goal
- Seth Jones (CHI) — 1 goal, 26:27 TOI
What’s Next
The Blackhawks host another Central Division foe on Sunday afternoon when the Minnesota Wild visit the United Center for a 2:30 p.m. start.