The Dallas Stars were looking to make a statement against the Chicago Blackhawks after a drubbing in Dallas on Saturday, and that’s exactly what they did as a Patrick Eaves hat trick led them to a 4-2 victory on Thursday night.
The Blackhawks did make a big push in the third period, but they were unable to come all the way back. Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith scored goals for the Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford ended up getting pulled from the game after giving up four first period goals and digging the Hawks into a hole they couldn’t get out of.
Just over a minute into the game, the Stars got on the board and silenced the United Center crowd. Andrew Shaw turned the puck over near the defensive blue line, and Jamie Benn fired a pass to Eaves alongside the net. The forward collected the pass and calmly lifted a shot over Crawford to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
About halfway through the period, the Stars scored again. This time it was John Klingberg doing the honors, and he made the play happen on his own. He drove past Teuvo Teravainen into the middle of the slot, and his backhanded shot evaded Crawford to put Dallas ahead by two goals.
Later in the period, the Stars scored a pair of power play goals, both of which came off the stick of Eaves. The first one came on a great pass from Tyler Seguin, who wheeled around under the goal line and ripped a pass toward Eaves, who one-timed a shot past Crawford. A few minutes later, it was Seguin setting up Eaves again, as the rebound from his slap shot landed on Eaves’ stick and ended up past Crawford to give Dallas a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The second period saw minimal chances for the Blackhawks, but they were able to score early in the third period of the game. With traffic in front of him, Keith fired a slap shot from the boards and it bounced off of several Stars players before evading Kari Lehtonen to get the Blackhawks on the board and end a scoreless streak of over five periods of play.
Later in the period, the Blackhawks scored again. This time it was Kane doing the honors, as he cut the deficit to two goals. After Jonathan Toews won a face-off, Kane loaded up and hammered a slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle to beat Lehtonen and make it a 4-2 game.
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Despite numerous good chances in the closing minutes, the Hawks’ couldn’t close the gap. Kane had a great backhanded chance on an empty net that he put just outside of the near post, and Shaw hammered a one-timer from the slot that was saved by Lehtonen, and after a few more tense moments, Dallas was able to escape with a victory.
The Blackhawks will look to bounce back after consecutive home losses on Saturday night when they welcome the Anaheim Ducks to the United Center.
