The Blackhawks got off to an okay start in Dallas. They were able to kill an early penalty and then got a power play of their own when Matt Dumba took a cheap shot on Jason Dickinson. Seth Jones obliged the Stars and killed the Blackhawks’ power play with a terrible play that got his team called for too many men. And a sloppy game’s first goal came from Evgenii Dadonov, who cherry picked behind the Blackhawks defense and received a nice outlet. Connor Bedard got a breakaway in the closing seconds of the first and drew a penalty to give the Blackhawks a power play to open the second period.
Jamie Benn swatted a puck into the net to double Dallas’ lead in a second period that could have cured insomnia. The Blackhawks’ power play, which was 0-for-5 on Friday night, was 0-for-3 in the first two periods on Saturday.
Matt Duchene scored a power play goal at 8:50 into the third period. But then the Blackhawks started to crank up their intensity. A greasy goal from Ryan Donato got Chicago on the board and then Bedard got the Hawks within one with a little more than five minutes left in regulation. Unfortunately Dallas scored into the empty net to close the books. It was Duchene’s second of the night.
Star 1: Petr Mrázek
If Mrázek wasn’t on his game, this would have been a blowout by the middle of the second period. Playing for the second time in as any nights, he faced 25 shots in the first two periods (Dallas had 15 in the first period; the Blackhawks had 14 in the first 40 minutes) and made some big saves to keep his team close.
Petr Mrazek with an early Save of the Year entry. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/HBhD4znDx5
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 27, 2024
Star 2: Connor Bedard
The Blackhawks got their second goal of the night to make things extremely interesting. Bedard was active again tonight. Another pedestrian night at the dot (1-for-5) but he scored the pretty goal of the night.
#Blackhawks GOAL
🚨 Connor Bedard
🍎 Pat Maroon, Nolan Allan
Two straight nights with an assist for Allan
pic.twitter.com/WeFLvpMwIi— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) October 27, 2024
Star 3: Jason Dickinson
On a night where there wasn’t a lot to be excited about in many areas of the performance, Dickinson was solid once again. He won 9 of 14 faceoffs and, impressively, was break-even in shots for/against at 5-on-5 while skating primarily against Dallas’ line of Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven.
Key Takeaways
- The Stars had allowed three goals in their four home games to start this season before hosting the Blackhawks on Saturday night. That includes shutouts against Islanders and Kraken. They’re an absolute wagon and had only played twice since last Saturday (Tuesday in Buffalo and Thursday in Boston).
- I would characterize the first couple periods of this game as a step back for Lukas Reichel. He started the game on Bedard’s left wing and looking like he was set up for a great opportunity. At the end of the second period, only Donato had been on the ice less and the analytics on Natural Stat Trick were not positive for Reichel. He had the worst Corsi For (1 for, 10 against) on the Blackhawks’ roster. He was on the ice for seven Dallas shots on net in 6:37 at 5-on-5.
- Here’s Chicago’s first goal of the night:
Craig Smith scores his team-leading fourth goal of the season in bizarre fashion.
Dallas thought about challenging for goaltender interference but chose not to. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/DZIwbDMLwq— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 27, 2024
- Pat Maroon had assists on both of Chicago’s goals.
- Nolan Allan was credited with an assist for the second straight game/night.
- Here’s Dumba’s cheap shot on Dickinson in the first period that got the Blackhawks their first power play:
Matt Dumba lays a big hit on Jason Dickinson, and he's penalized for interference. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/4B5u4xmSUT
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 27, 2024