Hintz scores four points, Stars top Blackhawks in coach's return

CHICAGO -- Roope Hintz had a goal and three assists, and the Dallas Stars scored four straight goals to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 at United Center on Thursday.

Blake Comeau scored twice, Jamie Benn had two assists, and Anton Khudobin made 38 saves for the Stars (14-14-10), who had lost two straight.
"I'm feeling good," said Hintz, who has missed 11 games this season because of a lower-body injury. "I mean, I'm feeling good every time I go out there, so it's fine."

Dominik Kubalik scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves for the Blackhawks (18-18-5), who have lost three of four.
"The power play was a big difference in the game: they got two (2-for-3), we got zero (0-for-3)," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We looked the most dangerous at the end of first and would like to see us respond better to that adversity. Things are going to go against you sometimes. They're a hard-working team, they're not going to give us anything for free. Would like to see us handle that better."
Rick Bowness coached Dallas on Thursday after he missed a 4-2 loss to the Blackhawks here Tuesday because of NHL COVID-19 protocol. Assistant John Stevens replaced Bowness on Tuesday.
"The biggest thing from this game to last game was the rest we had yesterday," Bowness said. "We came in here on Tuesday and had two very tough, physical games back to back [against the Carolina Hurricanes], and we just didn't have the energy to start the game on Tuesday. … We had more jump. We had to make adjustments after the first, the guys took the adjustments well, [Khudobin] made some big saves, we got some timely goals and got the win."
Dallas won 3-2 on Saturday and lost 1-0 on Sunday at Carolina.
Hintz followed up on a rebound from Benn's shot and lifted the puck over Lankinen on the power play for a 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first period. Benn got his 400th NHL assist on the goal in his 848th game.
Kubalik tied it 1-1 at 14:05 when he received Vinnie Hinostroza's centering pass below the goal line and scored past Khudobin's blocker side. Hinostroza assisted on Kubalik's goal Tuesday in his season debut with Chicago after he was acquired in a trade from the Florida Panthers for forward Brad Morrison on April 2.
"I felt like right away from the first game we kind of know what to expect from each other, so that's always nice," Kubalik said of Hinostroza. "It's very positive to stay with it and just keep it rolling like that. We've got to bring it next game [at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday] again."

Hintz intercepted a pass from Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov in the offensive zone then sent the puck to Jason Robertson, who tucked it past Lankinen's right leg to put Dallas ahead 2-1 at 1:13 of the second period.
"He shows what he means to our team, he's our best forward," Bowness said of Hintz. "You guys are seeing points and goals like tonight. What we see also is how well he plays without the puck, how reliable he is defensively. He's one of the top two-way centers in the League, and he'll keep getting better."
Miro Heiskanen made it 3-1 at 14:02 from the high slot for Dallas' second power-play goal.
Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith lost the puck while skating backward along the blue line, and Comeau scored on a breakaway to make it 4-1 at 15:57.
Hintz intercepted Keith's pass into the neutral zone then passed across the slot to Comeau, who scored on Lankinen's glove side 50 seconds into the third period for the 5-1 final.
"We seemed to be a little bit fragile," Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy said. "Instead of picking each other up and a mistake on a goal or a shift where they're on us, we don't seem to be responding very well. That's on us as a group, and even a leadership group, to be able to recognize things and get our game going in the right direction."
NOTES: Hintz has scored 27 points (12 goals, 16 assists) in 27 games this season. ... Dallas is 11-for-11 on the penalty kill in the past five games. Chicago is 0-for-13 on the power play the past four games. … Chicago acquired forwards Brett Connolly and Henrik Borgstrom, defenseman Riley Stillman and a seventh-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft in a trade from the Panthers, who received defenseman Lucas Carlsson and center Lucas Wallmark, on Thursday. Connolly and Stillman will join Chicago on Saturday in Columbus.