This was one of the wonkiest games I’ve watched in a long, long time. The Chicago Blackhawks get the win over the Dallas Stars 4-2 with a season-low 16 shots. The Blackhawks move to 14-9-5 on the season, keeping hold of their fourth-place spot in the Central Division. Chicago is now 3-1-0 against the Stars this season and 10-1-2 in the second game of a two-game series against the same opponent in 2021, winners of nine in-a-row.
FINAL: #Blackhawks 4, Stars 2
Shot attempts: 59-37 DAL
Shots on goal: 30-16 DAL
5-on-5 scoring chances: 22-10 DAL
5-on-5 high danger chances: 6-3 DAL pic.twitter.com/NMYrlRGipj— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 12, 2021
Chicago improves to 10-1-2 as well this season when scoring the first goal of the game.
Dominik Kaublík tallied his tenth goal of the season to open the scoring for the Blackhawks. On this date one year ago, Kubalík had scored 30 goals, so this season has been a real disappointment for the second-year forward (joking, of course).
https://twitter.com/NBCSBlackhawks/status/1370189859567108097?s=20
The story of the night was the ridiculous shooting percentage by the Blackhawks tonight. They scored all four of their goals on the first eight shots of the game. And they ultimately finished with a season-low 16 shots and a 25% shooting percentage.
In the pregame tonight, I mentioned how bad the Blackhawks have been at five-on-five this season. The Blackhawks scored two goals on nine shots at five-on-five tonight. They had two shots on goal at five-on-five heading into the third period and both of them were goals.
Honestly, what?
Chicago had the powerplay working tonight, going two-for-five on the man-advantage, improving to 4-for-15 against the Stars this season. Carl Söderberg scored the 2-0 goal on the powerplay, his ninth point in his last 11 games, and Alex DeBrincat scored the 4-0 goal in the second period also on the powerplay. DeBrincat scoring his fifth goal in his last seven games, he has 15 goals this season to lead the Blackhawks.
Since Carl Soderberg took on a power-play role exactly one month ago (Feb. 11), he now has three PPGs to his name. No other #Blackhawks player has more than one in that span.
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) March 12, 2021
Kevin Lankinen was doing the thing, nearly securing his second career NHL shutout, but the Stars were able to pull two goals out in the third period to ruin his night. He finished with 28 saves on 30 shots faced to earn his tenth win of the season.
On a night where a lot of the attention was placed on the crazy low-shot, high-scoring numbers by the Blackhawks, on the other end you have to give Lankinen a ton of credit. A big reason the Blackhawks were able to kill all five powerplays against the tonight was because of Lankinen bailing them out.
The Blackhawks now move on to face the team above them in the standings, the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
Final Thoughts
• Brandon Hagel registered an assist on the Kubalík 1-0 goal, making it 43 points this season by Blackhawks rookies, the most in the NHL.
• Duncan Keith scored his first goal of the season and 102nd in his career on the 3-0 marker. His next goal will tie Brent Seabrook for the third-most by a Blackhawks defenseman in franchise history.
DUNCAN KEITH'S FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON! pic.twitter.com/b1woTHJRMq
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) March 12, 2021
• Blackhawks killed all five powerplays by the Stars tonight. They are 12-for-13 on the penalty-kill against Dallas this season.
• Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat combined for the 4-0 goal in the second period, the 23rd goal this season that both Kane and DeBrincat have registered a point on, the most of any duo in the NHL.