How can Stars get past Blackhawks? Avoid 'self-inflicted wounds'

Stars (13-14-10, 36 points) at Blackhawks (18-17-5, 41 points)

The Stars hit an interesting quandary Tuesday night when their aggressive philosophy of involving defensemen in the offensive play sort of bit back.
Before the playoffs last season, the coaching staff decided that "activating" the defensemen was the only way to really get the most out of this team, and it paid off in a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. That strategy also has been important in putting up good efforts against Tampa Bay and Carolina in recent games.
However, it blew up against Chicago, as the Blackhawks love to wait for a counter-attack and then race up ice against a disheveled Stars group. That happened several times in a 4-2 loss on Tuesday, including three goals and a goal that was disallowed because of an offside call.
"We fell into a little bit of a trap here," said assistant coach John Stevens, who was acting as head coach Tuesday with Rick Bowness in COVID protocol.
"We came off playing a team like Carolina which pushes the puck north, they get pucks in and they forecheck and they keep coming at you," Stevens said. "But Chicago really wants to play a possession game, so if they don't like what they see, they pull pucks back and gather speed underneath. We really didn't handle it well, especially early. We talked about not letting this game have their identity on it, but I think it did. We made it far too easy on their top players. We have to do a better job than we did (Tuesday)."

Chicago is 4-1-0 against the Stars this season, so the Blackhawks are doing something right. Still, the Stars have a 160-129 advantage in shots on goal this season, so their plan also has some positives.
While Bowness acknowledged that it's not a bad question to ask if the defensemen should just be more conservative against Chicago, he said his team is opting to play its game -- just better.
"That's very fair," he said when asked about not activating the defensemen. "But I think there was just a disconnect between our forwards and our defense last game, and that's what caused those odd-man rushes. That was just a disconnect. The forwards are just as responsible for that. The forwards were in position and then they just let them jump by us. Our angling and our backchecking wasn't good enough. We addressed that yesterday. John met with the team and cleared that up, so our meeting today was getting that connection back and getting that trust back. We can't change the way we play, we just have to be connected more."
Stars forwards Blake Comeau and Andrew Cogliano said the forward group takes a lot of responsibility for putting the defense in bad spots. Either way, the entire team has to find a way to get back on the same page.
"I think we have to manage the puck better," Comeau said. "They're such a good team in transition, they've got some highly skilled players and they're very opportunistic. I think all three of the goals were just self-inflicted wounds. That's disappointing."

If Stars need motivation, just look across ice

The Stars have had to deal with a lot in the past week, but they are getting to the point where they can not afford to lose games against teams like Chicago.
The loss on Tuesday puts them seven points behind Nashville for the final playoff spot and five points behind Chicago. Another loss, and the hole starts getting really deep.
"Listen, we know where we are," Bowness said. "We've put ourselves here and we can't keep saying, `We're close, we're close.' We're going to run out of games here unless we get a little bit of a streak going. Nashville is three games above .500, we're one game below .500. Right now, we're behind and we have to win some games to close that gap. You have to help yourself, and we're in position to help ourselves."
If the Stars need any motivation, all they have to do is look across the ice. The Blackhawks were in a 1-4-0 slump entering Tuesday's game, but received huge performances from Patrick Kane, Alexander DeBrincat and Kirby Dach. Vinnie Hinostroza said that Kane addressed the team before the game and helped provide motivation.

"Kaner said before the game, `Every game from here on out is a playoff game,'" Hinostroza said. "We have to approach it as such."
The Blackhawks were the better team and deserved to win, and the fact that they were able to take their motivation and put it on the ice was a really nice sign for a squad that was struggling to find its way.
"It's pretty cut and dried. You don't have to look too deep underneath that statement," said Chicago head coach Jeremy Colliton. "We should be excited about the chance to play in these types of games. We're right where we want to be and now we've got to seize the moment. Kaner said that in the room, but then he came out and delivered, as well."
The Stars need a similar type of performance tonight.

Khudobin returns after COVID protocol

Anton Khudobin, who missed two starts because a false positive test put him in COVID protocol, will get the start. He is 7-9-4 on the season with a 2.48 GAA and .908 save percentage. In two games against Chicago this year, he is 1-1-0 with a 3.00 GAA and .833 save percentage.
The Stars didn't skate this morning, so there will be the usual game-time decisions.
This is the end of a six-game road trip, so the team will be back in Texas for a couple of days, play Saturday afternoon against Florida and then head to Nashville for a 7 p.m. Sunday game. After that, they will return for five home games, and they should be able to get updates on injured players Alexander Radulov (lower body), Tyler Seguin (off-season hip surgery) and Ben Bishop (off-season knee surgery). All three have been working out at Comerica Center in Frisco while the team has been on the road.
Bowness said the players will participate in workouts with the taxi squad or at morning skates and each individual will have to make decisions on whether they feel they are getting closer to play.
"It's the morning skates, that's all they're going to get," Bowness said. "Listen, they'll be skating as much as they can. But we're probably not going to have a team practice probably for the rest of the year, not the way we want to practice. We won't be able to have a good, hard 30-minute, 40-minute practice working on things for the rest of the year, simply because of the schedule and the injuries, and the guys are tired and banged up. Their rest will be more important."

By the numbers

6

That's the number of points for the scoring leaders in the season series between the Stars and the Blackhawks. Each has a goal and five assists. Kane leads Chicago and Jason Robertson leads Dallas.

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26.8

Dallas ranks second in the NHL in allowing the fewest shots against per game at 26.8. Chicago ranks 30th in shots against at 33.4 per game.

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23

The Blackhawks have taken 23 holding penalties, most in the NHL. Dallas has taken 21 tripping penalties, second most in the NHL.

He said it

"It was a tough couple of days. The way we live, when you're with the team every day, and around the guys every day, that's a big part of our life. So when all of the sudden you're sitting in a hotel room 10000 miles away by yourself, it's not a lot of fun." -- Bowness on having to miss Tuesday's game because he was in COVID protocol.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.