ANALYSIS: Blackhawks Show Mental Strength in Difficult Dallas Comeback

Saturday night was a roller coaster of emotions for the Stars and Blackhawks in Dallas.
At the end of the night, Chicago dropped an overtime decision for the second straight game, falling 4-3 to the Stars in the first meeting of the year. While it's always tough to concede the extra point to a division foe in a similar position outside the playoff picture, the point at all is a small victory the Blackhawks will take home regardless given the circumstances on the road.

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at DAL
RECAP: Blackhawks Battle Back for Point in OT Loss to Stars
RELEASE: Mitchell Recalled from Rockford
NEWS: Tuesday's Game vs. Florida Postponed
MEDICAL: de Haan Out with Non-COVID Illness
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Stars
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Stars
INSIDER: DeBrincat on Hot Start, DeBrindogs & More

BEHIND EARLY

The game was just three minutes old when Brett Connolly's night was ended, assessed a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct for a dangerous hit along the boards on Dallas' Tanner Kero. The Stars' forward was stretchered off the ice after a lengthy stoppage, but was later reported to be alert and responsive at a local hospital.
"You don't want to see that, wish that on anybody. Conns, he's just not that type of player, so I don't know if it was just a weird collision or didn't really see him, but just hope Tanner's good," King said, acknowledging that Connolly was still shaken up by the incident after the game. "Tanner's a real good kid, I had him in Rockford for a little bit. You don't want to see that but it does happen in this game and hopefully he's fine."
"That sucks. Happened to [Jujhar Khaira] a couple of weeks ago and it's definitely not a good feeling," Alex DeBrincat said. "No one's out there trying to do that. It's a very unfortunate play."
With five minutes of guaranteed power play time upon the resumption of play, Dallas took full advantage with a pair of Joe Pavelski power-play tallies within the opening 7:24 of play.
"Yeah, definitely behind the 8-ball," DeBrincat said of the hole. "They obviously scored two goals on that power play … When you go down 2-0 early, it's never easy to come back."
The Stars had nearly a full two minutes of a two-man advantage a short time later but was unable to expand their early lead as Chicago thankfully only trailed by a pair at the first intermission, down in shots 18-4. They did, however, net the game-winner on the power play in overtime, a 4-on-3 advantage. It was the fourth time in the last six games that Chicago has allowed multiple power-play goals against.

MENTALITY SHIFT

For the second straight night, the Blackhawks never led in regulation, but found a way to battle back against a division foe to earn a point and force overtime. Friday's contest against Nashville might've left a sour taste with missed opportunities abound, but Saturday's game in Dallas proved as yet another example of the team's new-found mental fortitude to claw their way back from a difficult situation.
"A lot of emotions. Just trying to keep them calm on the bench and let's fight through this," King said of the mentality shift after the first. "I thought we did an excellent job of showing the character these guys have now, the strength these guys have now as a team, they just battled back."
"A little bit of adversity. We had to climb back. I thought we did a great job of that," said Dylan Strome, who scored the Blackhawks' second goal on the night. "Coach came in and said 'Adversity comes in all different shapes and sizes, big or small' and that was obviously big. We did a great job of clawing back and sticking with our game and found a way to get a point. I think we'll take the positive."
It was the third time in the last four games the Blackhawks scored a late game-tying goal in the third and the third straight game with at least a point to show for the game after the final whistle.

POWER PLAYS

The Blackhawks registered just two shots on five power plays on Friday night at home and the message for the special teams skill men was simple from King in Dallas:
"We've got to shoot more," he said.
They did just that on the first opportunity of the night early in the second, putting three shot attempts at goal with the third finding pay dirt off a Patrick Kane-DeBrincat connection in just 1:25 of power-play time to start the comeback.
The Blackhawks, though, foiled their other two power play looks on the night, not registering a shot in their second attempt and then negating their third with a penalty just 14 seconds into the advantage.