Lankinen makes 28 saves for Blackhawks in win against Stars

Kevin Lankinen made 28 saves, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday.

Adam Boqvist and Patrick Kane each had two assists for the Blackhawks (14-9-5), who scored four goals on 16 shots.
Chicago split the two-game set in Dallas after a 6-1 loss Tuesday.
"It was a big win, an important win," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We knew they were going to be a desperate team again. It certainly wasn't perfect, but I thought we found ways to defend. Obviously, the special teams were big for us, and [Lankinen] made a couple saves early, especially in the first period, that allowed us to take control of the game."
Roope Hintz and John Klingberg scored for the Stars (8-9-5), who were 2-0-1 in their previous three games. Anton Khudobin allowed four goals on eight shots through the second period and was replaced by Jake Oettinger, who made eight saves and got his first NHL assist.
"The power play was awful, the penalty kill wasn't good enough," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "When you're off like that, you would hope your power play would get you a goal to get you going. It didn't happen tonight. Again, [the Blackhawks] had two even-strength shots on net after 40 minutes. The good things we're doing are getting lost because we're not scoring on the chances that we had, and the special teams clearly were the difference tonight."
Chicago was 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, including killing a 35-second 5-on-3 opportunity beginning at 18:35 of the second period.
"It probably wasn't our best game, but we got the two points, so we need to take the positives," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "Our power play was good (2-for-5), I thought our penalty kill did a really good job, especially on that 5-on-3 killing it."
Dominik Kubalik received a backhand pass from Brandon Hagel and shot between Khudobin's legs for a 1-0 lead at 5:26 of the first period.

Carl Soderberg made it 2-0 at 2:53 of the second period when he redirected Boqvist's shot from the top of the right face-off circle on the power play.
Keith scored unassisted with a shot from the point off a failed clearing attempt by Stars defenseman Esa Lindell to increase the lead to 3-0 at 14:37. It was Keith's first goal of the season.
Alex DeBrincat extended it to 4-0 at 16:10 with a power-play goal from the right circle.
"It is harder [seeing the puck], just because you don't have any other shots than screened shots, tipped shots, all that stuff," Khudobin said. "Even on that second goal, I pretty much clearly had it, but at the same time the blade was almost half a foot from me, and [Soderberg] just deflected it and it went in."

Hintz scored for the third straight game with a wrist shot from the slot to cut it to 4-1 at 9:43, and Klingberg skated the length of the ice and scored from the slot at 12:41 for the 4-2 final.
"If our penalty kill can step up and kill those penalties, I think it's a different game," Stars forward Blake Comeau said. "You get some momentum and it keeps the game tighter."
NOTES:Boqvist has three multiassist games in his past seven games. … Kane has 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in his past 11 games. He is the third NHL player to reach 40 points this season, joining Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (48) and Leon Draisaitl (42). … DeBrincat has scored six goals in the past seven games. … Chicago is 10-1-2 in the second game of a series this season, with nine straight wins. … Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen played a game-high 28:07.