Stars winning streak ends against Crawford, Blackhawks

DALLAS --Corey Crawford made 26 saves for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 2-1 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

David Kampf and Alex DeBrincat scored in the first period for the Blackhawks (29-30-9), who have won two games in a row for the first time since Feb. 18-20. They are seven points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"That felt like playoff hockey almost," Crawford said. "Right from the first face-off, it was intense. All our guys were into the game. Guys were making great plays, smart plays, were blocking shots. That was a really solid win."
WATCH: [All Blackhawks vs. Stars highlights]
Alexander Radulov scored, and Anton Khudobin made 37 saves for the Stars (35-28-5), who lost for the first time in five games. They lead the Wild by one point for the first wild card and trail the St. Louis Blues by four points for third in the Central Division.
"We didn't have tons of energy," Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. "The first period wasn't bad. Second period, that's where I thought the game kind of got away from us. They outskated us. They kind of skated us into the ground. Third period, we were smarter, but we still couldn't generate."
Kampf scored on a give-and-go with Chris Kunitz on a 2-on-1 to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 5:10 of the first period. It was Kampf's first goal in two games since returning after missing 13 games with a broken right foot.

The goal ended the Stars' shutout streak at 149:29. They defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 on Thursday after a 1-0 win against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Radulov scored to tie the game 1-1 at 6:23 of the first period. He backhanded the rebound of a Tyler Seguin shot around Crawford's left pad while skating across the crease.
It was the fourth goal in four periods for Radulov, who had his first NHL hat trick against the Avalanche.
DeBrincat put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 with 36 seconds left in the first. On the rush, he got behind Stars defenseman John Klingberg and tapped in a pass from Patrick Kane for his 37th goal, tied for sixth in the NHL.
"[Connor Murphy] blocked the shot. They chipped it up to Kaner, and I just kind of took off," DeBrincat said. "Kaner made a good play to get me in behind the D, and (I) just tried to come across and go back far side."

The Blackhawks limited the Stars to five shots on goal in the third period after allowing 22 through the second.
"We blocked a lot of shots, a couple late where they had good position in the slot," Crawford said. "Just seemed like our overall game was great tonight."
Klingberg said, "They did a pretty good job taking the puck out of our hands today. I feel like we rimmed or dumped a lot of pucks, and then we were chasing it and we didn't get a lot of possession time."
The Stars did not have a power play for the first time this season.
"Especially with the way the kill's been going, that's huge for us," Kunitz said. "That means guys were working. We're skating. We're keeping our sticks down."
Chicago allowed seven power-play goals in 23 times shorthanded in its previous 10 games.
After Khudobin was pulled for the extra attacker with 1:15 remaining, Stars captain Jamie Benn was called for interference with 16.6 seconds remaining, forcing Khudobin back into the net.
Crawford is 3-1-0 with a 3.44 goals-against average and .886 save percentage in three games since returning after missing 28 games with a concussion.
"It's a process. It's a challenge," Crawford said. "It's not easy. This league is fast. You've just got to work hard and keeping going to try and get the timing. I feel like it gets even harder after that."

They said it

"It's a little nerve-wracking towards the end. I thought we did a good job clamping down." -- Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat on their lowest-scoring game since a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 21
"We answered the bell tonight. It's a big game for us. We needed to win." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"They did a pretty good job of stretching the zone. It seemed like our forecheck, we really couldn't keep pucks in." -- Stars forward Andrew Cogliano

Need to know

The Blackhawks are 17-1-1 when leading entering the third period. … Chicago captain Jonathan Toews went 13-for-25 on face-offs (52 percent), and the rest of the Blackhawks were a combined 8-for-31 (25.8 percent). … Stars forward Radek Faksa played after missing his first game of the season Thursday with a neck injury.

What's next

Blackhawks: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Stars:At the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)