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RECAP: Blackhawks drop in overtime to Dallas 5–4

  
Connor Bedard
DALLAS, TX - DECEMBER 29: Connor Bedard #98 of the Chicago Blackhawks skates against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center on December 29, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Blackhawks came into Friday night’s action, finally ending their losing streak. After defeating Winnipeg 2–1 on Wednesday, they came into Dallas to try to gain four points before the new year arrives. Nikita Zaitsev was supposed to play but wound up being a late scratch, so this was the lineup that the Blackhawks iced:

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First Period:

The injury bug struck early for the Blackhawks in this game. Taylor Raddysh played two shifts early in the first and was unable to come back for the rest of the game. That meant the Blackhawks were only icing eleven forwards for the remainder of this contest. Despite that, they were the ones able to grab the first goal of the game. After an Anthony Beauvillier shot on goal, Tyler Johnson cleaned up the rebound to put the Blackhawks up 1–0 eight minutes into the frame.

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Three minutes later, Lukas Reichel got the puck behind the Stars’ net. He fed it in front to Cole Guttman, who buried his third of the season, making it 2–0 Blackhawks early in this one. It would only take a minute or so for Dallas to get right back into the game. On a powerplay rush into the Blackhawks’ zone, the puck went from Jamie Benn to Joel Pavelski to Roope Hintz, who had a wide-open net to put the puck into and make the score 2–1 Blackhawks to end the frame.

Second Period:

It took the same amount of time into the second period for either team to get another goal. This time, Dallas would tie things up. Nils Lunkqvist put the puck right on net and got a tip in front from Pavelski, knotting things up at 2–2. It took all of twenty seconds for the Stars to get another one. Eerily similar to his first of the game, Roope Hintz had another wide-open Blackhawks’ net to tap this one home, putting the Stars up 3–2. The Blackhawks’ forwards were beaten badly on this play, giving the Stars the three-on-two to get the wide-open net.

Third Period:

Two minutes and ten seconds into the third, Reichel had an absolutely brutal giveaway along the boards. Wyatt Johnston skated in and put the puck off of Petr Mrazek’s pads. The puck bounced right out to Jamie Benn, who put the Stars up 4–2 early in the third. The Blackhawks didn’t just play dead though, as they would show they still had life. Just after their powerplay expired, Jason Dickinson got the puck out in the slot and ripped a slapshot past Scott Wedgewood, getting the Blackhawks back to within one, 4–3 Dallas. The Blackhawks went on the powerplay again late in the period. With 2:26 left on the clock, and the Blackhawks on the powerplay, Johnson put in another rebound goal to knot things up at four, and send this game to overtime.

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Overtime:

The Stars poured it on in overtime with a furious barrage of shots on Mrazek. The Blackhawks looked absolutely gassed but were surviving. In the last ten of overtime, Hintz got the puck on his stick once again, and put home his hattrick goal, giving the Stars the 5–4 win.

Analysis:

The Blackhawks did not look like they were on even terms with the Stars. The Stars looked like they were skating circles around them, especially Jarred Tinordi. He had an absolutely brutal game, getting beat so many times by players who are much smaller than him, but faster. Mrazek looked out of position too, as he bit hard on several of the Stars’ goals, giving them tap-ins when the initial man passed instead of taking a shot. Despite the ugliness of this game, it’s good to see this team fight back from being down by two goals. That at least shows some resilience, as even if they are getting beat, they aren’t backing down from playing out the rest of the game and fighting back.

The Blackhawks are playing again in Dallas on Sunday. That game will be at 7:00 central on NBC Sports Chicago.

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