Recap: Blackhawks Down Stars at Home

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After having to wait for 60:55 of game time to see a goal scored in Chicago’s overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Friday, the Blackhawk’s game against the Dallas Stars on Saturday had a flurry of offense start just over 21 minutes into the game. While the Blackhawks didn’t tally the first goal of the game, they did go on to score the following three courtesy of Marian Hossa and Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin.

The Blackhawks did a good job locking down the duo of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Despite missing their No. 1 center, No. 1 goalie, and one of their top defensemen, Chicago was able to keep the Stars dynamic duo relatively quiet for the majority of the night. Winning a divisional game the way Chicago did Sunday night is exactly what the Blackhawks needed after some of their recent, disappointing losses given the solid goaltending that Scott Darling has provided for the team.

First Period

Similar to Friday’s game against the New York Rangers, the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars failed to score a goal in the first frame of Sunday night’s contest. The Blackhawks were able to edge the Stars in shots, however, recording 10 to Dallas’ nine.  Like he did in the New York game, Darling played very well in his crease through the first 20 minutes, denying every shot taken by the Stars and keeping the score set at zero.

Second Period

The first goal of this game came much sooner than it did in the game against the Rangers. As mentioned in the preview for this game, Drew Shore scored both of the Stars’ goals against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. Though he’s had some trouble finding the back of the net so far this season, it’s not uncommon for players to score goals in bunches when a stick is hot – unfortunately for the Blackhawks, that’s what happened Sunday when Shore broke the 0-0 tie and put the Stars on the board with his third goal in two nights.

The Blackhawks responded quickly, however. Shore’s goal came at the 1:25 mark of the second period. Marian Hossa was able to tie the game up at one apiece at just the 2:17 mark, almost immediately getting the Blackhawks right back into the game.

Just over 10 minutes later, Artem Anisimov scored his 12th goal of the season to give the Blackhawks the 2-1 victory at the 12:30 mark of the second period. Ryan Hartman notched the primary assist on Hossa’s goal and was initially credited with helping on Anisimov’s goal prior to the scoring change giving Anisimov the goal unassisted.

Third Period

Artemi Panarin scored the Blackhawks’ third goal of the night, and in all fairness to Kari Lehtonen, it was a shot that simply couldn’t be stopped. Panarin’s goal came from an insanely sharp angle to give Chicago a two-goal cushion in the final frame of the game.

Panarin’s goal helped demoralize the Stars enough to solidify the win for the Blackhawks. Chicago has now won all three games against Dallas so far this season and looks to regroup quickly as they have a rematch with the New York Rangers coming up Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. The Blackhawks are hoping that they will have both Toews and Seabrook in that matchup which could provide the spark that the team was missing when the team’s last played.

Scoring Summary

FIRST PERIOD

Scoreless

SECOND PERIOD

DAL – D. Shore (5) assisted by J. Klingberg  and C. McKenzie

CHI – M. Hossa (15)

CHI – A. Anisimov (12) assisted by R. Hartman and T. van Riemsdyk

THIRD PERIOD

CHI – A. Panarin (11) assisted by D. Keith and P. Kane

THW Three Stars

First: M. Hossa (1 goal)

Second: S. Darling (23 Saves, .958 SV%)

Third: R. Hartman (1 assist)

Up Next:

Chicago Blackhawks at New York Rangers

United Center – 6:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

Broadcast channels – NBCSN, TVAS, SN, MSG 2, CSN-CH

2016-17 Season Series: 

December 9 – Rangers 1 – Blackhawks 0