The Blackhawks rally but fall to the Dallas Stars 4-3 in overtime at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Here are 10 observations from the loss:
1. Brett Connolly drew back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Friday but his night was short-lived. On his first shift, he laid a big hit on Stars forward Tanner Kero, who was stretchered off the ice. Connolly was assessed a five-minute major penalty for interference and a game misconduct. You could see how distraught Connolly was after the play, but the right call was made.
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2. The Stars provided an encouraging update in the middle of the first period: "Tanner Kero is conscious, alert and responsive. He’ll be transported to the hospital for precautionary measures and evaluation.”
3. The Stars had eight power plays and they scored three of their goals on the man advantage. The Blackhawks allowed only nine goals on the penalty kill in their first 22 games. Since then, they've allowed 12 in their past eight.
4. Kevin Lankinen started in goal and was absolutely terrific, despite what his save percentage (.897) shows. He faced 39 shots, 15 of which came on the power play, and stopped 35 of those shots. You couldn't have asked for a better night out of him, given the circumstances.
NHL
5. In 9:52 of power-play time, the Stars had 28 shot attempts, 15 shots on goal, 19 scoring chances and eight high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. They had a ton of great looks.
6. The game was pretty even at 5-on-5, where the Stars barely led in shot attempts (37-36), shots on goal (23-20) and scoring chances (20-14). The high-danger chances were tied at 6-6. The difference, for the second straight night, came down to special teams.
7. The birthday boy Alex DeBrincat, who turned 24 on Saturday, found the back of the net for the 17th time this season. He has three goals in his last three games after going four straight without one.
8. Dylan Strome had another solid game. He scored his third goal of the season, finished with a team-high six shots on goal — four of which came from the slot — and generated four scoring chances off the rush, according to Sportlogiq.
9. Brandon Hagel recorded two primary assists and now has five points in his last four games. One of the goals came from Dominik Kubalik, who extended his point streak to four games. The secondary scoring is slowly starting to come.
10. Patrick Kane was credited with eight shot attempts. Only one of them hit the net. Two of them were blocked and five of them missed the net. The game-winning goal in overtime came on his penalty, which was his second in as many games after he went 24 straight without one.