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Dallas Defeats Chicago 5-1 as Trade Deadline Draws Near

After a gut-wrenching loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, the Dallas Stars bounced back on Thursday to take care of-wait a second…

Roope Hintz opened the scoring with a power play goal, giving Jamie Benn his 400th career assist. The Blackhawks tied it up later in the period, but Jason Robertson reclaimed the lead at the top of the second. What was a close game quickly became a blowout late in the period as Miro Heiskanen and Blake Comeau scored within minutes of each other. Comeau scored one more for good measure to start the third, and the Stars went home with a 5-1 victory.

The Stars’ win comes at an important time, with the NHL Trade Deadline looming on Monday. During the game, Sean Shapiro reported that the Stars don’t see themselves as sellers, and tonight’s win helps support that notion. Then again, the Nashville Predators also won, thus keeping their seven point cushion, so…

First Period

In contrast to most Stars games, this one began with a flurry of shots on net in both directions, although it was heavily skewed in the Blackhawks’ favor. However, it would be Dallas who scored first, thanks to a Ryan Carpenter slashing call against Roope Hintz. Hintz would proceed to score off the rebound of a Jamie Benn shot:

Chicago would respond by continuing to bring the heat while the Stars, erhm, did not. That ultimately resulted in a Dominak Kubalik goal off the rush, tying up the game just five minutes later. That would be it for goals in the first, although Ty Dellandrea went to the box for interference against Brandon Hagel with roughly 30 seconds left, more or less setting up Chicago for a power play to start the second…

Score: Dallas 1, Chicago 1
Shots: Dallas 12, Chicago 16

Second Period

…except Dylan Strome immediately took an interference penalty against Andrew Cogliano to start the second, giving us some 4-on-4 hockey. During this time, the Blackhawks coughed the puck up in the defensive zone, leading for a Jason Robertson goal up front:

Dellandrea’s penalty soon expired, and Dallas was treated to a brief power play before another penalty was called, this time on John Klingberg for holding Kirby Dach. The ensuing 4-on-4 and power play didn’t result in anything, however, and most of the period went by without much fanfare.

With about seven minutes left in the period, Carpenter went to the box once more for putting the puck over the glass. And once again, he was forced to watch as the Stars scored a power play goal, this time courtesy of Miro Heiskanen:

Less than two minutes later, Chicago committed another brutal turnover, leading to a rare Blake Comeau breakaway opportunity that the veteran made the most of, putting Dallas up 4-1:

Dellandrea would soon return to the box once more for holding Alex DeBrincat, but the Stars’ penalty kill would hold strong once more. That would be it for a rather eventful second period, and Dallas headed to the locker room with a rather cushy lead.

Score: Dallas 4, Chicago 1
Shots: Dallas 26, Chicago 24

Third Period

Not content with just one goal for the evening, Comeau managed to score again, thanks to — you guessed it — another Blackhawks turnover which led to another breakaway (though this time a two-on-one):

At this point, the Stars were more than content to just bunker down and protect the lead. The shot count began to pick up considerably in the final minutes, Chicago desperate to get another goal, but it was ultimately to no avail. Dallas would walk away with a sound victory, and thus keeping their playoff hopes alive for at least a while longer.

Final Score: Dallas , Chicago
Final Shots: Dallas , Chicago

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