Chicago Blackhawks @ Dallas Stars 3-2 SO - 10/09

It was the sort of game to be expected from two Central Division rivals, a back-and-forth, speed-driven game that required more than 60 minutes to determine a winner. In the end, it was a familiar face playing the role of hero for the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane scored the deciding goal in the shootout to give Chicago a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in the season opener for each team.Despite being outshot 8-3 in the opening period, the Blackhawks headed into the first intermission with the lead after Duncan Keith whistled a slap shot past Lehtonen to the short side at 19:16.


The Stars had several solid chances in the opening 20 minutes, including a backhand by Patrick Eaves at 7:40 that hit the crossbar. Dallas continued generating opportunities in the second period and tied the game at 2:17 when Crawford denied Cody Eakin's long shot. Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson followed with a heads-up play to knock the ensuing rebound out of the air with his left glove. Midway through the second, Hjalmarsson was called for high sticking Eaves, drawing blood from the Dallas forward's face and giving the Stars a four-minute power play. Dallas tied it 1-1 when defenseman Trevor Daley scored on a slap shot from the edge of the right circle 10 seconds later after an attempted pass by Hemsky deflected off Keith's skate. The Stars took their first lead at 15:04 of the second when Eakin beat Crawford top shelf on his glove side with a wrist shot from the high slot to make it 2-1. Chicago had several great opportunities to pull even early in the third. Lehtonen denied Kane at the near post at 4:03 and a long-range slap shot by defenseman Johnny Oduya from the left point that looked like a sure goal at 5:26 hit the far post.
But the Blackhawks did get even at 11:10 when Sharp beat Lehtonen short side for a power-play goal, not far from the same spot where Keith had scored late in the first.


Chicago was on the power play after Dallas defenseman Jordie Benn was called for holding the stick of Blackhawks center Brad Richards seven seconds earlier, at 11:03. The Blackhawks went on the power play again with 1:55 remaining in regulation after Benn inadvertently shot the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Lehtonen stood tall and made key saves on Toews and Richards to force overtime. Kane delivered the lone highlight of the extra period when he attempted to put a backhand past Lehtonen after a spin-o-rama at 1:08, but the Dallas goaltender denied him, and stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced. Chicago wouldn't have made it to the shootout if not for goalie Corey Crawford, whose big stops kept the Blackhawks in position to steal a win after they played a sluggish opening two periods.


In the shoot-out, Crawford denied Jason Spezza's shot down the middle and deflected a blast by Tyler Seguin wide. Lehtonen had pushed a shot by Chicago's first shooter, Jonathan Toews, wide left. Kane was Chicago's second shooter; he beat Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen top shelf over his left shoulder with a well-placed backhand. The Stars' third shooter, Ales Hemsky, lost possession of the puck in the right circle before being stopped by Crawford, sending the Blackhawks rushing onto the ice to celebrate their season-opening victory. Chicago has now won seven straight games in Dallas. Keith and Sharp each had a goal and an assist for Chicago. Crawford finished with 32 saves, then stopped all three Dallas shooters in the tiebreaker.


19:16 Keith from Seabrook & Sharp 1-0
30:13 Daley from Hemsky & Spezza 1-1 PPG
35:04 Eakin from Garbutt & Roussel 2-1
44:47 Sharp & Dillon Roughing
51:10 Sharp from Keith & Kane 2-2 PPG
Shootout
DAL - Spezza, Seguin, Hemsky all missed
CHI - Toews missed, Kane scored

Chicago Quotes

Patrick Sharp: "The third period, the first 10 minutes, [Crawford] made incredible saves. All night long he was great, so we can be happy getting out of here with a win, but if it wasn't for Corey, it'd be a different situation."
Patrick Kane: "Yeah, I knew what I was doing the whole way down today. I had kind of a gut feeling, whether it was watching video before the game or trying some things in practice. I just kind of put a move in the back of my head and stuck to it the whole way."

Dallas Quotes

Trevor Daley: "They're a great team. They've been in the Cup. For 40 minutes, we carried the game. We played some good hockey. The last 20 minutes, the penalties gave them some momentum. It shows why they're a good team. They found a way to win."
Cody Eakin: "Obviously, we're not happy with the way it finished, but we did a lot of good things."

Coaches Comments

Joel Quenneville: "We have to call the cops. We stole two points tonight. [Crawford] was great; first period, second period better. We got going in the third, but certainly call that a goalie win. We took way too many penalties, five in the first two periods, so we got out of sync, killing penalties, hemmed in our end. We didn't have the puck much in our end; we didn't generate any offense, not a threat, but we took too many careless penalties."
Lindy Ruff: "That was a tough first goal, but I really thought [Lehtonen] looked like himself after that. You've got to give him credit for fighting that one off."