Stone Cold: Stars 4, Blackhawks 1

Another game, another loss.

The Chicago Blackhawks extended their losing streak to six games after being outclassed 4-1 by the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.

The Stars got on the board first when Tyler Seguin scored 5:45 into the first period. He received a nice pass from Jani Hakanpää off the rush, moved into the slot, and then went five-hole on Alex Stalock to put the Stars up 1-0.

The Stars doubled their lead with 61 seconds remaining in the opening frame. On the power play, Colin Miller’s wrister from top of the circle beats Stalock clean to give the Stars a 2-0 lead.

Joe Pavelski extended the Stars lead to 3-0 doing what he does best: tipping a shot into the net. Joel Hanley took a long shot from near the blue line and Pavelski deflected it expertly in the slot for the goal at 11:24 of the second period.

The Stars scored their fourth unanswered goal while shorthanded at 7:04 of the third period. Luke Glendening buried Ty Dellandrea’s pass while on a 2-on-1 rush, then knocked into Stalock — who stayed down a bit after the collision.

The Blackhawks spoiled Jake Oettinger’s shutout midway through the third thanks to a Tyler Johnson goal. Kaiser skated the puck in close, his backhand pass hit Jason Dickinson, and the loose puck then jumped to T. Johnson, who buried it.

Stalock was thrown out of the game with 3:37 left after he was give a game misconduct for unsportsmanlike behavior. He was still upset at the no-call after being run over earlier.

That would be the final goal of the game as the Blackhawks fell 4-1 to the Stars. One more game down until the Blackhawks’ season is over.

Notes

• Neither team started particularly well, managing only about four shots on goal up until the final five minutes of the period, but the Stars started to pick it up after that and then left the Blackhawks in the dust. Chicago ended up with 10 shots in the first 40 minutes, but half of those came in the last four minutes or so of the second period. Not ideal for a team that already can’t generate offense to be shooting so little. Conversely, the Stars had 23 shots in those first two periods.
• The Blackhawks finished the game with only 42.03 percent of the shot attempt share and 45.45 percent of the scoring chances at 5-on-5.
• Look, losing is “fine” because it helps Blackhawks’ odds for the lottery, but it’s hard to watch them be spanked by a team going only half-throttle — even a generally good team like the Stars.

• The Blackhawks were understandably upset about Stalock being tossed, but I’m not sure Connor Murphy needed to fight Dellandrea at the end: he wasn’t the guy who ran Stalock, he didn’t seem to have done much else to gain Murphy’s wrath, and he’s not exactly in Murphy’s weight class.

• With Khaira out sick, the Blackhawks ran with an 11 forward/7 defensemen lineup, though Ian Mitchell did play some wing during the game.
• Kaiser, Alex Vlasic, and Lukas Reichel were three of only five players to have at least two shots on goal. The others were Andreas Athanasiou (3) and Jason Dickinson (2).
• Kaiser’s first NHL point was a secondary assist, but he definitely played a huge role in setting up that goal. ‘Twas a nice little kick move to get the puck to his stick. Kaiser had the second most shot attempts on the team with four — and that was with him getting zero time on the power play.
• Speaking of special teams and young players, it was nice to see that Vlasic and Kaiser both got the second and third most penalty-kill time behind Seth Jones, an area where both were proficient at while playing in lower leagues (both in NCAA, Vlasic additionally in the AHL). Vlasic finished with 3:28 on the PK and Kaiser with 3:09.
• Only tangentially Blackhawks related — in that this is hopefully about future and past Blackhawks players — but Connor Bedard got a Patrick Kane mullet prior to the start of the WHL playoffs. Several of his Regina Pats teammates also got the haircut, but Bedard is apparently who prompted them to do it. This isn’t the first time Bedard has paid tribute to Kane: earlier in the season, he did Kane’s famous “heartbreaker” celebration after an overtime goal at the World Juniors Tournament. Fingers cross this is the universe saying the ping pong balls will fall in Chicago’s favor on May 8.

Game Charts

Three Stars

1. Joe Pavelski (DAL) — 1 goal
2. Tyler Seguin (DAL) — 1 goal
3. Wyatt Kaiser (CHI) — 1st NHL point

What’s Next

The Blackhawks wrap up their three-game homestead on Thursday when they take on the St. Louis Blues at the United Center for a 7:30 p.m. start.