Here are five takeaways from the Blackhawks' 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night:
1. Missed chances in first period.
With three days to prepare for the first of a six-game road trip, the Blackhawks appeared to have fresh legs and dictated the pace of play early on. They recorded 27 shots with 11 of them hitting the net and allowed 22 attempts with only seven on goal.
The Blackhawks also generated 13 scoring chances, but couldn't capitalize on any of their opportunities, which included two post-shots. The Stars had just five scoring chances but converted on one of them when Jamie Benn scored seconds after their power play expired late in the frame to make it 1-0 Dallas.
It was all down hill after that.
2. Patrick Kane's 300th will have to wait another day.
Sitting on 299 goals for his NHL career, Kane came out flying looking to score his 300th right off the bat. He slowed down a bit after the first period but still finished with six shot attempts (two on goal).
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Ultimately, he was held off the scoresheet altogether — as was the entire team — and snapped a four-game point streak and three-game goal streak.
3. Forgettable night for penalty kill.
This is an area the Blackhawks have been good in all season long, entering the contest with the fourth-ranked penalty kill unit in the league (83.5 percent success rate). In this one though it wasn't so great.
The Stars went 1-for-3 on the power play on paper, but their first goal of the game came three seconds after it had expired when Jamie Benn buried a one-timer from Remi Elie to put the Stars on the board.
Tyler Seguin scored his first of two on the night with the man advantage when he gathered a loose puck, made a nice deke and backhanded a shot past Corey Crawford, who suffered his first regulation loss since Nov. 12. He was 9-0-2 over that span.
4. Injury scare for Jonathan Toews.
The Blackhawks had a minor injury scare in the first period when their captain was sent to the dressing roomo after taking a big hit from former Blackhawks defenseman Stephen Johns. He missed a couple of shifts but returned in the period and finished with only 14:03 of ice time.
Toews won 10 of 16 faceoffs and was the only player on the team that finished with a win percentage of at least 50. The Blackhawks were 23-for-60 (38 percent) at the circle as a team.
5. Quiet return for Richard Panik.
Joel Quenneville said a reason he decided to healthy scratch Patrick Sharp for the first time this season in favor of Panik was because he didn't want guys sitting too long. A message was clearly sent to Panik, who sat for the previous three games, to up his game but he didn't exactly take advantage of being back into the lineup.
Panik registered just one shot on goal and one hit, the latter of which came on the power play with roughly three minutes remaining. Was it enough to keep himself in the lineup for Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils?