ANALYSIS: Fleury Stellar in Scoreless Stalemate with Stars

The Blackhawks left the United Center on Friday night disappointed in the end result, but with a lot to be happy about in a 1-0 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars.
Following a lopsided, high-scoring loss to the Blue Jackets 24 hours prior, Chicago shored up their game defensively and played confidently in a 0-0 affair for 65 minutes of action before the skills competition decided the victor.

PREGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI vs. DAL
RECAP: Blackhawks Drop Scoreless Game in Shootout to Stars, 1-0
RELEASE: Reichel Recalled from Rockford
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks vs. Stars
GALLERY: Blackhawks vs. Stars
FLOWER POWER
For just the 50th time in NHL records since the shootout was implemented in the 2005-06 season, Marc-Andre Fleury earned a shutout in the game, but was still credited with an overtime loss after the shootout defeat to the Stars. It's the first time the veteran has had the diverging stat line to end a game.
"All game we hung in there and didn't give them much," Fleury said. "Had to go all the way to the shootout. It's still disappointing to (be) so close to that one."
The netminder made 29 stops in total in his fourth shutout of the season, making several timely saves throughout the night, but none bigger than robbing Roope Hintz with a point-blank glove save in the dying seconds of the second.

"As a goalie, those are the ones that I play for and I love doing. It feels good inside," he said. "Players like to score goals and for me, I make a save -- those are the ones that should go in. It makes me smile."
"He saved my ass," Jake McCabe said of the stop. "Me and [Connor Murphy] had that 2-on-2 and somebody passed it across to Hintz, 5-6 seconds left, and he makes that glove save. Those goals at the ends of periods are big swings in momentum, so that was an absolutely huge save for us to go into the third period 0-0."

SHOOTOUT MCCABE

As the stalemate between the two teams entered the sixth round of the shootout, it wasn't skilled forwards like Dylan Strome or Henrik Borgstom called to jump out onto the ice -- instead it was No. 6 called by King to take a shot.
"I was hot this week in shootouts," McCabe said. "King gave me a chance and I thought I had a pretty good shot, goalie got his knob on it. It's unfortunate that one didn't go in for me."
"I think he was shocked when I picked him," the coach explained. "We did a little shootout game (in practice) and he went down and scored a couple goals. I'm like, 'You know what? If we're getting [into the deep] rounds and going, I might call on you, so be ready.' He did. His shot, it hit the knob of the goalie's stick. This is why we do shootouts in practice."

REICHEL RETURNS

Following Thursday's loss to Columbus, King expressed a desire to shake up his lineup, something he hasn't had fully ability to recently with injuries piling up.
The Blackhawks did make one big move ahead of Friday's game, though, recalling Lukas Reichel from Rockford for his second NHL stint.
"Yesterday morning we thought about it," King said of the move. "Then after the game it was like, 'OK, let's bring him up and see what he has again,' and give us something offensively, maybe."
After appearing in a pair of home games in mid-January for the Blackhawks, Reichel went back to the AHL and posted 13 points (3G, 10A) in 13 games since with a trio of one goal and one assist outings, including on Wednesday night against Milwaukee. He's fourth in AHL rookie scoring for the year with 14 tallies and is one of 11 rookies averaging a point-per-game or more on the season (min. 10 games).
"His pace of play -- he's hanging onto pucks a lot more and making things happen," King said of the forward's improvement since his first call. "He's obviously a really good hockey player down there, (now) it's being able to translate that level to the NHL level. He showed spurts of it last time we had him and I'm hoping he's built on that and he understands the league and he'll hang onto pucks a little longer and not be in such a rush to dish it off to somebody and he'll make some plays."
"I think my game away from the puck is getting better," Reichel said, noting an added comfort at the NHL level this time around. "From the last call up, I learned I've got to shoot more. Everything else, same game… There's so much going on, I just want to play my best game and see what's going to happen."
Reichel skated 17:41 of ice time, including 29 seconds of power play time, registered two shots and was 4-for-7 on the faceoff dot in his third NHL appearance. He was immediately thrust onto the top line with Patrick Kane and Brandon Hagel, a role he didn't look out of place occupying throughout the night.
"Reichs was great. I really liked how Reichs played," King said after the game. "He wasn't shying away, he was strong on pucks, maybe lost a battle for one puck, but he stays in the fight. Kid's going to be a special player, but we've got to watch we don't rush him into this."