Welp, on to the next.
The Dallas Stars fell flat from the opening whistle and gave the Blackhawks plenty to be thankful for. The Stars clearly looked like the team on the tail end of a road trip and look to get back on track this Friday at AAC vs. the Avs.
First Period.
17 seconds. 17 seconds into the game, Taylor Hall took a routine wrist shot to the glove side of Casey DeSmith, opening the scoring for the Blackhawks in this one. As TV sensation Shoresy would (sort of) say, this seemed to “set the tone” for this pre-Thanksgiving Central Divison clash.
The stars were then gifted a chance to right the ship with a powerplay early in the period where … stop me if you’ve heard this before … they ceded possession and gave up a quick rush the other way. Sigh.
Minutes after the powerplay, Matt Dumba mishandled a pass from Casey DeSmith around the boards which immediately resulted in a pass from Ryan Donato to the front of the crease where Taylor Hall was there to bury the Hawks’ second of the period. Bleh.
The line of Mush-Duchene-Seguin continued to create chances, but couldn’t make anything of their net front chances. Was very impressed with their shifts even in the midst of this lack luster start to the game by the Stars. Wyatt Johnston was called for a hold with seconds left in the period.
Shots: CHI-9 DAL-9
Score: CHI-2 DAL-0
Second Period.
Chicago started the second period on a poweplay from the end of the first period, where Conner Bedard ripped a snapshot over the left shoulder of Casey DeSmith.
Shortly thereafter, a play similar to the Hawks’ second goal occurred, where the blackhawks fired a wrap around pass into the zone directly to Matt Dumba; Dumba mishandled the passs where Tyler Bertuzzi was waiting to pounce on the puck. He passed the recently won puck to Teuvo Teravainen in the High Slot where he beat DeSmith on the glove side.
Less than a minute later – after a surprising sustained offensive possession, Miro fired a snapshot in which the rebound bounced to the doorstep. New Craig Smith Colin Blackwell pounced on the bouncing puck and listed the puck over Mrazek’s pads.
Brendan Smith received a hooking penalty midway through the second. Halfway through the PK, Jamie Benn, Thomas Harley, and Wyatt Johnston created a fantastic 2-on-1 chance where Johnston made one too many passes and the Stars came up empty handed. The Hawks finished the power play in a tie up on the half wall, where the puck popped out in the possession of Real Craig Smith. Smith passed across the crease to Taylor Hall, where Hall completed his hat trick for the night.
The Duchene line tried to push for a goal with 7 minutes left in the period, where Seguin and Duchene had some great looks in the front of the net, but those chances didn’t result in any tallys for the Stars. Going the other way Ilya Mikheyev danced past, you guessed it, Matt Dumba and sent a cross-crease pass to Louis Creveir who slotted home Chicago’s 6th goal of the night. *Shudders*
Miro was tripped with 2:18 left in the period. The stars could not retain significant possession time in the offensive zone and struggled to even enter. Once they did enter, Tyler Seguin had a chance in the front of the net that he attempted to put under Mrazek’s left arm to no avail.
Shots: CHI-20 DAL-20
Score: CHI-6 DAL-1
Third Period.
Conner Bedard almost dangled around … Matt Dumba … for another goal a minute and a half into the period.
Matt Duchene was hooked in the middle of the third period. The Stars still weren’t able to maintain a significant amount of possession during the power play and I continue to worry if more shake-up is needed for this powerplay to be successful later in the year.
Jamie Benn was hooked by Taylor Hall later in the period. This powerplay looked … awesome? Matt Duchene operated behind the net and Jason Robertson carrier from the right point across the left and fired a pass off of Mrazek’s pad where Duchene was there to slot it home.
The final buzzer sounded like music at this point.
Shots: CHI-20 DAL-20
FINAL Score: CHI-6 DAL-2
The positives to take from this game are some combination of the following:
– It’s a long season
– The fact that Matt Dumba has already been scratched this season means he won’t be given Ryan Suter levels of loyalty
– Hopefully Friday can erase some of the memories from this game
– I am thankful for the roster makeup of this team and for Jake Oettinger
Will see everyone soon for a game that hopes to provide some better moments than this one!