With the NHL trade deadline looming, the Chicago Blackhawks briefly paused their roster shuffling on Thursday night when they hosted the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars at the United Center. The Hawks played the game without their leading scorer, Max Domi, as a pending deal to send him to Dallas was reportedly being finalized, and was eventually completed following the game, with Chicago sending Domi and minor-league goaltender Dylan Wells to Dallas for a 2025 second-round pick and veteran netminder Anton Khudobin. The Hawks started Petr Mrazek in net against University of Massachusetts alum Matthew Murray, who was making his NHL debut.
— The Stars struck first on the power play to take a 1–0 lead when Joe Pavelski found Roope Hintz on a 2-on-1 down low and he fired the puck into a wide-open net with Mrazek out of position. For Hintz, it was his 27th of the season at 10:21 of the first.
— The Hawks tied it at 1–1 at the 15:54 mark when Cole Guttman tapped in a rebound for his third of the season off a Tyler Johnson shot off the rush.
— At 17:05 of the first, Dallas regained the lead at 2–1 when Hintz scored his second of the game and 28th of the season on a one-timer from the left circle on the power play. Dallas took the lead into the first intermission.
— The Hawks came out for the second period and tied it just 26 seconds in when Seth Jones floated a wrist shot through a screened Murray for his seventh of the season. The teams would remain in a 2–2 tie after two periods.
— The Stars returned the favor with an early third-period goal to take a 3–2 lead. One of the Stars’ newest acquisitions, Evgenii Dadonov, won a board battle behind the net and then found Jamie Benn in front, who knocked in his 25th of the season at the 45-second mark.
— With the Hawks’ net empty, the Stars won a defensive zone draw and Esa Lindell launched a 200-foot shot into the open cage to take a 4–2 lead. For Lindell, it was his seventh of the season.
— With 13.7 seconds left, Hintz completed the hat trick with an empty-net tally for his 29th of the season to give the Stars a 5–2 lead, which stood as the final.
— Once again, the Hawks played hard throughout the contest but just ran out of gas in the third, largely due to the talent disparity. For the Stars, Murray picked up his first NHL victory.
The Blackhawks return to home ice on Saturday night when they face the Nashville Predators. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. CST.