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 After having lost the first three of five scheduled regular
season meetings with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Stars were not
about to be denied in their fourth matchup of the 2014-15 season
Sunday at the United Center.
Center Cody Eakin led the Stars' with two goals and an assist, left
winger Jamie Benn had three assists and goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped
38 shots as the Stars cruised to a 6-3 win over the Blackhawks.
Eakin, who came into the game with seven goals, scored the Stars'
second goal of the night in the first period, as well as the
game-winner in the third period.
Dallas (21-17-7) has now won its last two games and three of its
last four. It also improved to 10-8-2 on the road.
Despite two goals from left winger Brandon Saad, Chicago (28-15-2)
continued its recent struggles, suffering its fifth loss in the last
eight games.
Chicago goalie Corey Crawford was able to stop just 28 of Dallas' 34
shots. Crawford suffered his second straight defeat and fourth in
his last seven outings, dropping his personal season mark to
17-10-2.
"We didn't commit ourselves to playing the right type of game,"
Chicago center and team captain Jonathan Toews said. "We played hard
and we played well at times, where we sustained the pressure and
controlled the play, but then we had lapses where we were giving up
2-on-1s.
"It was evident throughout our entire game, whether it was our power
play or our penalty kill or 5-on-5. We weren't good enough in that
area tonight."
Dallas took over with three third-period goals after entering the
period tied at 3. That's where Dallas put things together, while
Chicago fell apart.
The tie lasted less than three minutes as Eakin scored his second
goal of the night and ninth of the season on the power play at 2:58.
"We know going into the game, it's a high-chance team," Chicago
coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're in the right spot in the third
period, tied hockey game at home. They played last night. It was
exactly what happened last game. They get the big goal on their
power play, very timely."
Dallas coach Lindy Ruff couldn't agree more with Quenneville's
assessment.
"(That was a) big power-play goal," Ruff said. "At that time of the
game, it's a big power play, it's a big goal for your team. Gives us
a little bit of momentum.
"When you saw that, you saw the odd-numbered rushes and you saw even
better opportunities on our part."
Indeed, Dallas scored twice more to turn a tight game into a rout.
Left winger Eric Cole's made it 5-3 with a wrist shot at 10:59 of
the final period for his 12th goal of the season.
Stars center Shawn Horcoff finished things off with an empty-netter
with a minute remaining.
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"We found a way to win it," Benn said. "We've been in this
situation before, coming in here after two periods and being tied.
We just wanted to get the job done tonight. That was all that was on
our minds and we found a way to win." The Stars came out fast,
scoring two goals in the first 11 minutes of the game.
Center Tyler Seguin tallied his team-leading 27th goal at 6:33 of
the first period to make it 1-0 for Dallas.
Even though they were playing short-handed with left winger Ryan
Garbutt in the penalty box for hooking, the Stars went up 2-0 at
10:49 when Eakin tallied his eighth goal of the season.
Chicago got back on track at 12:22 of the first period when right
winger Patrick Kane tipped in a rebound past Lehtonen to cut Dallas'
lead to 2-1. The goal was Kane's team-leading 21st.
Saad tied things up with his 14th goal of the season on the power
play at 17:00 of the first period.
Dallas went back ahead 3-2 on center Vernon Fiddler's fifth goal of
the season at 19:11 of the first period.
Saad tallied his second goal of the evening on a wrist shot past
Lehtonen at 7:13 of the second period, tying the game at 3.
Saad now has nine goals and two assists in Chicago's last 12 games.
NOTES: With a likely suspension coming for his brutal cross check on
Winnipeg C Matthieu Perreault during Friday's game, Blackhawks LW
Daniel Carcillo did not play Sunday. Carcillo waived his right to an
in-person hearing and will have a phone hearing Monday. Perreault is
expected to miss several games with a left arm injury. ... Sunday
marked Chicago's team record 300th consecutive home sellout at the
United Center, dating back to March 2008. ... Sunday was the second
time Chicago has hosted Dallas in two weeks. ... D Jyrki Jokipakka
and LW Curtis McKenzie, recalled Saturday from Texas (AHL), were
with the Stars on Sunday. ... Pre-game scratches for Dallas were D
Trevor Daly, McKenzie and D David Schlemko. ... In addition to
Carcillo, scratches for Chicago were D David Rundblad and RW Kris
Versteeg. ... Attendance was 22,135.
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