Connor Bedard, Andreas Athanasiou and Seth Jones scored second-period goals 4:03 apart and Petr Mrazek made 42 saves as the host Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday to halt Dallas’ franchise-best eight-game winning streak.
The Stars (48-20-9, 105 points) remained atop the Central Division, three points ahead of the idle Colorado Avalanche. The clubs are set to meet on Sunday night in Denver.
Outshot 44-17 on the afternoon, including 37-11 after two periods, the Blackhawks capitalized on their limited offensive chances to win for the second time in three games.
Chicago (23-48-5, 51 points) opened the scoring at 4:48 of the second period, as Bedard tallied his team-leading 22nd goal. With the Blackhawks on the man advantage, Bedard snapped a seven-game goal drought when his wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the far post and into the net.
Athanasiou made it 2-0 just 1:05 later. Lukas Reichel split a pair of Stars defenders and fought additional contact before backhanding a drop pass for Athanasiou, who beat Dallas goaltender Scott Wedgewood for his first goal of the season.
The Blackhawks went ahead 3-0 minutes later at 8:51, as Jones gathered a cross-ice feed from Ryan Donato and scored from the left circle.
Roope Hintz scored his third goal in the past four games to end Mrazek’s bid for a shutout, deflecting a Miro Heiskanen pass past the goaltender at 15:37 of the second period.
Dallas’ Mavrik Bourque, who hit the post earlier in his NHL debut, had a potential third-period goal disallowed for goaltender interference. The Stars drew within a goal with 4:23 left, with Jamie Benn redirecting a Heiskanen shot for his 20th goal of the season.
Chicago killed a penalty moments later. The Stars finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
Wedgewood stopped 14 shots.
Tyler Seguin (lower-body injury) missed the game for the Stars.
Chicago salvaged a game from Dallas in the season series. The Stars won the first three matchups between the division foes by a combined score of 16-6, including one victory in overtime.
Dallas lost on the road for the first time since Feb. 27 at Colorado. Its last defeat overall came against New Jersey on March 14.
–Field Level Media
