x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

I Don’t Know Whether To Laugh Or Vomit: Stars 6, Blackhawks 4

Posted on by L_B_R

The Chicago Blackhawks blew a three-goal lead with 10 minutes left in the third period on Wednesday night, losing 6-4 to the Dallas Stars.

Jason Robertson scored the lone goal of the first period by putting in his own rebound and giving the Stars a 1-0 lead.

The first period didn’t end without a little fisticuffs after the Stars’ Jani Hakanpaa took offense to a clean hit by Jarred Tinordi on Ty Dellandrea.

The Blackhawks tied the game 1-1 less than five minutes into the second period. After the Blackhawks won the faceoff, Patrick Kane got the puck to Seth Jones, who sniped the puck into the net.

Andreas Athanasiou then scored on a mini-breakaway — dancing around Miro Heiskanen in the process — to make it 2-1 Blackhawks midway through the middle frame.

Connor Murphy shoveled in a goal after an extended scramble in front to make it 3-1 later in the second period.

Max Domi extended the lead to 4-1 Blackhawks at 9:37 of the third period, putting in Colin Blackwell’s rebound while falling.

Unfortunately, things started to unravel for the Blackhawks as the Stars scored three goals in roughly four minutes to tie the game.

First, Jamie Benn got the Stars within two on the power play less than a minute after Domi’s goal. The Blackhawks lost a battle along the right boards before Roope Hintz passed to a wide open Benn across the ice, who scored from the high slot.

Second, Mason Marchment beat Petr Mrazek with a short-side shot to cut the deficit to 4-3 at just before the 14-minute mark of the third in another instance where the Blackhawks lost a puck battle:

Third, Dellandrea tipped Hakanpaa’s shot 14 seconds later to tie the game 4-4. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this goal was the result of the Blackhawks not being able to win a puck battle.

Radek Faksa delivered a dagger with 1:33 left in the game to make it 5-4 Stars. Mrazek couldn’t corral the rebound from Colin Miller’s long shot, and Faksa tucked the puck in behind him.

Robertson added an empty-net goal with eight seconds remaining, and the Blackhawks were defeated 6-4 by the Stars.

Notes

  • Well, it was fun for a while, at least. Despite a lack of puck possession, the Blackhawks managed to keep the Stars to just four shots on goal in the first, and then the Blackhawks had an edge in performance in the second. Unfortunately, they were then wildly outplayed in the third where they had just 21.43 percent of the shot attempts and 28.35 percent of the expected goals. The Blackhawks losing isn’t unexpected, but it’s frustrating to watch them roll over when they have a multi-goal lead like tonight.
  • Seriously, the Blackhawks had 17 scoring chances in the second period but then only six in in the next third while the Stars generated 20. It felt inevitable that the Stars would mount a comeback of some kind, but to allow five unanswered goals in a span of about 10 minutes is crazy.
  • It was surprising Richardson didn’t call a timeout after the game tying goal, especially considering how fast the previous two goals had been scored. The Blackhawks coach addressed this postgame, though I’m not sure the reasoning really made sense:/

  • The Blackhawks had a lot of issues with puck battles in the third, as you can discern from the recap above. A lot of the goals came from the Chicago players outright losing along the boards or being outworked after a hard forecheck from Dallas. That’s not normally a problem for these Blackhawks that are more grinder-esque than in years past, but it wasn’t pretty to watch in the third.
  • Domi was easily one of the best Blackhawks players tonight, but his penalty in the third period was a big momentum-changer for the game as the resulting power play goal against is what started the Stars’ comeback. Domi giveth and Domi taketh away.
  • Sam Lafferty missed the third period with an injury, but it’s unknown when it occurred. Richardson made it sound like it wasn’t anything major, but Lafferty will be evaluated further tomorrow./

  • Seth Jones looked alright in his first game back from injury. He made some mistakes defensively — something he acknowledged post-game — but it was obvious how much better the Blackhawks are offensively with him in the lineup.
  • His brother, Caleb, also had one of his better offensive games of the season in terms of driving play. Defensively he was still suspect, but I’ll give credit for any improvement over the last handful games where he struggled on both ends of the ice. Playing him (or any of the younger defensemen) just 15:58 still feels like a waste, though.
  • The Blackhawks don’t have a lot of offensive power this season, but 11 different players did register a point tonight. Not bad.
  • Congrats to Jonathan Toews, who picked up his 500th career assist on Murphy’s goal. As mentioned in the preview, he’s just the eighth Blackhawk to achieve that milestone./

Game Charts

Three stars

  1. Jason Robertson (DAL) — 2 goals
  2. Jamie Benn (DAL) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Max Domi (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s next

The Blackhawks are back at the United Center on Friday to host the Montreal Canadiens for a 1 p.m. puck drop.

From all of us at SCH to all of you reading this, Happy Thanksgiving!

Talking Points