The Blackhawks’ descent continued on Sunday, December 29th, as the Stars skated away with a resounding 5-1 victory, marking Chicago’s fourth consecutive loss. Fueled by Jason Robertson’s go-ahead goal and Jake Oettinger being a wall in the net, the Stars proved too much for the struggling Blackhawks to handle. Connor Bedard’s electrifying first-period goal provided a brief moment of brilliance for the Blackhawks, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Stars’ dominance. Jamie Benn, Evgenii Dadonov, Wyatt Johnston, and Matt Duchene each scored the other four goals for Dallas to help secure this incredible win. The Blackhawks host the St. Louis Blues on New Year’s Eve at Wrigley Field for the Winter Classic on Tuesday, and the Stars head home to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Dallas Stars Lineup:
Benn – Duchene – Johnston
Robertson – Hintz – Dadonov
Back – Bourque – Stankoven
Hryckowian – Steel – Blackwell
Heiskanen – Harley
Lundkvist – Lindell
Bichsel – Lyubushkin
Oettinger
DeSmith
Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:
Hall – Bedard – Bertuzzi
Foligno – Nazar – Donato
Teravainen – Dickinson – Mikheyev
Maroon – Reichel – Kurashev
Brodie – Jones
Vlasic – Crevier
Allan – Murphy
Soderblom
Mrazek
Connor Bedard opened the scoring, putting the Blackhawks ahead 1-0 with 7:40 remaining in the first period for his 10th goal of the season. Right off the face-off, Seth Jones had gotten ahold of the puck, passing it to Bedard on the power play from the left circle when his shot deflected in off Sam Steel’s stick, getting past Jake Oettinger. With little time left to play in the opening 20, Jamie Benn tied it up to 1-1 when he jammed in a rebound of Evgenii Dadonov’s backhander after Arvid Soderblom made a left pad save.
Jason Robertson struck the go-ahead goal for his eighth of the season after Tyler Bertuzzi went off for a five-minute elbowing major in the middle frame. He made it 2-1 to get the Stars’ first lead of the night when he fired a wrister from the right face-off circle after walking in from the blue line at 11:37. Evgenii Dadonov took a cross-ice feed from Matt Duchene for a goal to push the lead to 3-1 when he struck from the right face-off circle, finding the back of the net with 5:14 remaining in the second period.
Just 10 seconds into the third period, Wyatt Johnston extended the Stars’ lead to 4-1 for his eighth goal of the season when a shot by Matt Duchene deflected in off his leg past Arvid Soderblom. Duchene put home a rebound soon after the fourth Dallas tally at 17:05 five-hole off a Johnston shot from the right circle for his 14th goal of the season and for the 5-1 final.
Jason Robertson on the goals/getting pucks to the net, and how important it was/and is just in general… if he thinks this can lead to more goals, Evgenii Dadonov, and how he feels about his individual game lately: “The teams are so compact. I mean, getting inside, in the interior – that’s where the goals are. So, we’ve emphasized that the past couple of weeks, and tonight we were rewarded,” – “It’s one game, and we definitely want to build on it, but for the power play, get one or two more each game. That would help us along the way, but definitely something to feel good about going to the next game. …He’s so experienced in any situation. He can drive, he can do whatever you need him to do… he played great. We’re going to need him along the way with some of these injuries, and he’s a valuable asset. – I think December’s been trending in the right way – definitely feeling better. 35 games in, want to try to get on a roll here, and what’s exciting is we have a new year coming soon, so I can move on and try to build off it and get excited for the new year.”
Teuvo Teravainen on losing momentum, if he thinks the goalies are getting enough support defensively, and how the major penalty changed momentum: “I feel like there’s been a lot of games where something goes wrong, and just the game starts going the wrong way. So, I guess we have to figure it out… there are mistakes that we make, and when we make a mistake, we just have to get better right in the next shift. Just got to be better, everyone,” – “Everybody has to be better, for sure. The goalies have been really good for us the whole year, and right now, a couple of games, we’re just not helping them at all. All of those little plays all over the ice, just everybody has to win battles and be in the right spots. – I feel like that was a tough one… they got a goal and the momentum started shifting the other way, and we lost a big player there too for the rest of the game. I guess sometimes it goes that way, but we just got to find a way to be better.”
Notes:
– Jake Oettinger made a total of 24 saves for Dallas, and Arvid Soderblom made a total of 28 saves for Chicago.
– Both Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn recorded a goal and picked up a pair of assists… Jason Robertson, Evgenii Dadonov, and Wyatt Johnston each picked up a goal and an assist.
– Dallas Stars: 21-31-1, Chicago Blackhawks: 12-23-2
– Justin Hryckowian made his NHL debut and played 5:50. He had been called up after Mason Marchment took a puck to the face in an overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
– The Blackhawks assigned Kevin Korchinski to the Rockford IceHogs, recalling Wyatt Kaiser.
ITR 40: Headed For A Repeat? – Inside The Rink
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