A late rally was not enough to save the Blackhawks from their fourth straight defeat in a 4-2 loss on the road against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
Dallas opened the scoring near the middle of the first period when Esa Lindell launched a perfect lob pass over the Chicago defense and sent Evgenii Dadonov in for a breakaway that he scored on:
In the second, Jamie Benn scored when he was left all alone on the side of the net and he neatly corralled a loose puck before batting it into the Chicago net out of mid-air:
It seemed like the Stars put the game away with this well-placed shot from Matt Duchene in the dying seconds of a power play at the 8:50 mark of the third:
Just 44 seconds after that Dallas goal to make it a 3-0 game, though, Chicago woke up. Ryan Donato was ultimately credited with this goal that was originally given to Craig Smith. It was Donato’s strong drive to the net that started the goal-mouth scramble which ended with Chicago’s first goal of the game:
Five minutes later, Connor Bedard was the recipient of an excellent stretch pass from Pat Maroon before sniping one past Oettinger to make it a 3-2 game:
Here’s the overhead view of that breakout pass:
Chicago had some more chances over the final 5:45 but could not dent the net one more time to tie the game, and a Duchene empty-netter provided the finally tally of the evening.
Notes
Chicago has five power-play goals in the two games that it’s won. It has one power-play goal in the seven games that it has lost, including another goose egg this evening on three opportunities. A team that seems to be that reliant on its power play when its power play hasn’t been very good in recent memory is likely headed for the bottom of the standings.
The Blackhawks’ best line this evening in most statistical categories was the fourth line of Pat Maroon, Ryan Donato and Craig Smith, which is also not going to be a recipe for success.
Lukas Reichel got the top-line promotion alongside Bedard and Teuvo but that trio didn’t tally a single shot on goal during 6:33 of 5-on-5 ice time. Seems like that’d change with a longer look, but it seems like there’s been a general lack of patience with any forward combinations that don’t immediately click, so expecting to see that group back together against Colorado on Monday feels unlikely.
Petr Mrazek was excellent in this game while playing for the second time in as many nights. It’s probably a four or five-goal deficit by the third period were it not for his heroics, including this absurd pair of saves during the second period:
The goalie situation will be interesting to watch for the rest of the season. We’ll hopefully be seeing Brossoit in the lineup soon and he certainly has the potential to be every bit as good as Mrazek’s been for the last season-plus. Should that be the case, a rebuilding team like Chicago should almost certainly be moving at least one of those guys at the deadline to a team that’ll inevitably come calling for help in net. But both Mrazek and Brossoit are roughly the same age and under contract through the next season at cap hits not different enough to matter right now. How Arvid Soderblom looks down in Rockford is probably a significant variable here as well … just something to keep an eye on as the season unfolds.
Wonder if Wyatt Kaiser is headed for a press box seat soon. Last night he took the penalty which resulted in the game-winning PPG against as a result of being beaten to the outside in his own zone. Then he was the one that Dadonov caught napping on his fly pattern through the neutral zone before that opening goal.
This was always going to be a challenging game, facing the two-time conference runner-ups in their barn after playing at home the night before. The late rally offers some encouragement, because last season’s version of the Blackhawks probably don’t make this game as close down the stretch. Against lesser opponents and when Chicago isn’t on the tail-end of a back-to-back, perhaps that game makes it to overtime. That’s about all the optimism left to locate from the on-ice events this evening. Don’t tell that to Bedard, though:
[UPDATE] Want to see how agonizingly close they were to tying the game up late?
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Matt Duchene (DAL) — 2 goals
- Miro Heiskanen (DAL) — 2 assists
- Jamie Benn (DAL) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks remain on the road and head to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night at 9 p.m.