RECAP: Blackhawks Stop Surging Stars, 3-2

CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Blackhawks stopped the NHL's hottest team on Saturday afternoon with a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars at the United Center.

Dallas entered the game on an eight-game winning streak, and despite outshooting Chicago 44-17 on the day, a three-goal outburst for the Blackhawks in a span of 4:03 early in the second period proved the difference. Chicago prevented a crucial momentum-swing shortly after their goal flurry in the second period, killing 55 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage for Dallas and a minute of power-play time on either side of it. The visitors scored their first goal off on an odd-man rush just two minutes later, though, to make it a 3-1 game.

Dallas scored again with under five minutes to play to make it 3-2 in their comeback attempt. Chicago then killed off the rest of the clock without incident, including a penalty in the final three minutes of play, to preserve the victory. 

Connor Bedard, Andreas Athanasiou and Seth Jones each found the back of the net for the home team, but Petr Mrazek was the undisputed star of the afternoon with a season-high 42 saves, stopping all of his first 32 shots faced on the afternoon in the process. 

"Petr stood on his head, as he has all season," Jones said postgame. "We played a lot of defensive zone, a lot of stuff around our net happening, but we found a way to block some shots and just kind of get the puck out of our zone into the neutral zone and withstand that barrage of pressure that we were withstanding. Got one on the power play, which helped, get that first one. The second half of the game, I thought we really came into our own, played a full 200-foot game, I thought, and didn't turn a lot of pucks over, didn't give me anything free."

QUICK HITS

• The 44 shots Chicago faced on the afternoon from Dallas were the most for an opponent in a single game this season, while their 17 shots for were tied for the second fewest posted in a game this year.
• Petr Mrazek set a career mark with his 50th start of the season and tied a career best with his 54th game overall of the year. His 42 saves tied his third most ever in an NHL game.
• Connor Bedard rang a shot off the post and in for the opening goal of the afternoon on the power play, his first goal since March 17 but fifth point in his last six games overall (1G, 4A). It was his seventh game-opening goal of the season, setting a Blackhawks mark for a rookie, surpassing Denis Savard and Murray Balfour (6 each). It was his fourth man-advantage tally of the year and 59th point (22G, 37A) of the year.
• Andreas Athanasiou scored his first goal of the season. It was the forward's 11th game back in the lineup after a 53-game absence with a groin injury.
• Seth Jones netted his fourth goal over his last six games with the third of Chicago's second-period strikes, converting a slick cross-ice saucer feed from Ryan Donato in the offensive zone, his 15th assist of the season.
• Philipp Kurashev continued his career season with the primary helper on Bedard's opening goal. The Swiss winger has points in five of his last six games (2G, 5A).
• Nick Foligno picked up his 20th assist of the year with the seconday assist on Bedard's goal, just the second time in the veteran's last seven season's he's hit the 20 assist mark (21 in 2019-20 with Columbus).
• Lukas Reichel logged his third point in his last three games with a slick setup on Athanasiou's tally, driving the slot with a Stars defender on his back before sliding a backhand feed out wide to his centerman. It was the forward's 10th assist of the year, a career mark.
• Colin Blackwell made his return to the lineup after a seven-game absence with an upper body injury suffered in LA on March 19. Blackwell was nominated for the Masterton Trophy on Friday for his perserverance in returning from a 10-month injury absence earlier this season.

THEY SAID IT

• "Connor was great all night. I thought he made really good decisions all night. He was good at the end of the game when they had the goalie out and had a few plays where he had nothing and dumped in it, which is the right thing to do. The guys on the back end after a hard penalty kill, we're gonna need them to take a few shifts like that. And they were ready for it and they did it." - Head coach Luke Richardson on entrusting Connor Bedard to help close the game defensively in the final minutes.
• "I think it shows that we have it in here. We haven't played a lot of great hockey this year, we went long stretches of not winning, not great on the road. But you know, it's nice this past month, really, that we can put it all together, play simple hockey, North hockey, direct hockey. We didn't have a lot of chance tonight, (but) we were putting the puck in the net on the ones we did, which is -- we haven't won that way lot this year, so it's nice to kind of see that we can do that." - Seth Jones on team playing over .500 hockey since March 9 (7-6-0).
• "The number one thing was to be healthy and the work with [Blackhawks goalie coach] Jimmy [Waite] and that we did over the two seasons, you know, helped me moving forward, so there was those good things I can appreciate and be thankful for." - Petr Mrazek on career season thus far.
• "That was sick. That's what you can do, though. He's so skilled, so fast and he makes such good plays every game. If you're watching him, iso-camming him, there's always so many little plays that he's making every night, so it's good to see him get rewarded. Yeah, that was crazy for sure." - Connor Bedard on Lukas Reichel's assist.

GAME LINKS

• Game Summary
• Full Box Score
• Highlights

WHAT'S NEXT

The Blackhawks are back in action on Sunday afternoon as the Minnesota Wild make their final trip of the season to Chicago.

POSTGAME VIDEO