The Blackhawks held the Stars to 27 shots and blocked 21 shot attempts in a 2-1 win Saturday at American Airlines Center in Dallas. David Kampf picked up his fourth goal of the season, and Alex DeBrincat scored the game-winning goal set up by Patrick Kane. How it Happened Five minutes into the first period, the fourth line got a 2-on-1 opportunity after Marcus Kruger won a board battle on a pinching Dallas defender. Kampf carried the puck into the zone, slid it to Chris Kunitz, and got a one touch pass right back. Kampf whacked the give-and-go past Anton Khudobin for his fourth goal of the season and his first goal since Nov. 24. A minute after the Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead, Tyler Seguin picked up a puck at the blue line and dumped it into the opposite corner. Erik Gustafsson thought Dylan Sikura was going to grab the puck, but Sikura ended up flying the zone. After the resulting scrum on the boards, the Stars came out with the puck and Seguin got a pass in the high slot. He took a quick shot that bounced right to a lurking Alexander Radulov, who put it home to tie it 1-1. Near the end of the first period, Connor Murphy blocked a snapper by Seguin, which sprung Kane, DeBrincat and Dylan Strome on a 3-on-2. DeBrincat beat John Klingberg to the offensive zone blue line and got an area pass by Kane for a breakaway. DeBrincat rifled a shot low blocker for his 37th goal of the season to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead going into the intermission. In the second period, the fourth line continued to have an impressive game. They were driving possession every shift they had, and drew a penalty after Kunitz barely missed scoring on a drive to the net. It was a fast and exciting period with chances on both ends. In addition to the fourth line playing well, Sikura had a couple noticeable shifts where he played with patience and confidence. He set up Keith wide open in the slot and almost put home the resulting rebound for his first career NHL goal. With 20 seconds to go in the period, Kane set up Dominik Kahun with a chance backdoor that Khudobin stymied. The Stars roared right back down the ice and Corey Crawford made a big stop to hold the lead. Not surprisingly, the Stars started the third period on fire. They spent lots of time in the Blackhawks’ defensive zone, but Crawford and the defensive core was up to the task. Murphy and Brent Seabrook had a couple courageous blocks, and the zone coverage was tight. Once the Blackhawks got through the early surge by the Stars, head coach Jeremy Colliton rolled the lines and Khudobin had to make a number of high quality saves to keep Chicago’s lead at 2-1. Kane, Toews, Saad and Anisimov all had chances that were either blocked or saved. On the other end of the ice, the Blackhawks had one of their best defensive periods of the season. They kept the Stars to the outside whenever they had possession in the offensive zone, and gave Crawford easy looks on shots that were barely ever from a dangerous area. The Blackhawks got another chance on the power play late in the third period, but could not convert. In this recent slump on the man advantage, they have gone 0 for 12. The Stars pulled their goalie with a little more than a minute to go in the third, but the Blackhawks locked it up in their own end and picked up two huge points on the road. Three Stars Alex DeBrincat (CHI) - Game-winning goal, 65.8 Corsi-For rating, 17:28 TOI. Chris Kunitz (CHI) - One assist, five shots (season high), 11:52 TOI. Connor Murphy (CHI) - One assist, seven blocks, 23:06 TOI. What’s Next? The Blackhawks host the Arizona Coyotes at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the United Center.<doc-sep>The Blackhawks will be looking to win consecutive games for the first time since late February when they visit the Stars on Saturday in Dallas. After winning in a shootout against Buffalo on Thursday, the Blackhawks are nine points and 10 points back of Minnesota and Dallas, respectively, for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 15 games to go. Chicago faced Dallas just two weeks ago in a 4-3 home loss Feb. 24 at the United Center. The Blackhawks won the first of four matchups this season, 5-2, on Dec. 20 in Dallas. The two teams conclude the season series in Chicago’s home finale April 5. Patrick Kane is 10 points shy of his career-high 106 points (46 goals, 60 assists) with 96 points (40 goals, 56 assists). He has three points during his last five games. Corey Crawford was excellent in his return to United Center, allowing four goals on 39 shots for a .897 save percentage. He stopped one of two shooters in a shootout in the win. He’s 2-1 since his return from a concussion in December and is expected to start in net Saturday. Dallas will be without their trade deadline pickup Mats Zuccarello, who broke his right arm Feb. 24 in Chicago when blocking a shot just a day after the Stars acquired him. He’ll be out at least two more weeks. Tyler Seguin leads the Stars with 61 points (27 goals, 34 assists), with linemates Alexander Radulov (54 points) and Jamie Benn (46 points) filling out the top three. Radulov scored his first career NHL hat trick Thursday against Colorado after he was a healthy scratch Tuesday due to arriving late for a team meeting after he overslept. Goaltender Ben Bishop is expected to make the start against the Blackhawks. He’s 22-14-2 with a .930 save percentage and a 2.13 goals-against average. *Lineups will be updated after the morning skate. Lineups Blackhawks Saad — Toews — Hayden Kahun — Anisimov — Kane DeBrincat — Strome — Perlini Kunitz — Kampf — Kruger Keith — Seabrook Dahlstrom — Murphy Koekkoek — Gustafsson Crawford Delia Stars Hintz — Seguin — Radulov Benn — Dickinson — Comeau Janmark — Spezza — Ritchie Coligano — L’esperance — Nichushkin Heiskanen — Klingberg Lindell — Polak Fedun — Lovejoy Bishop Khudobin How to watch When: 7 p.m., Central Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas TV: NBC Sports Chicago Live stream: ESPN+<doc-sep>
EditorsNote: Fixes Seguin, deletes extra word in 6th graf Slideshow ( 37 images ) Alex DeBrincat scored the deciding goal late in the first period, and Corey Crawford made 26 saves as the visiting Chicago Blackhawks outlasted the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Saturday in a key Western Conference dustup. The Blackhawks captured consecutive wins for the first time since Feb. 18 and 20. They are 3-4-0 in their past seven games and climbed to within seven points of Minnesota with 14 games remaining in the regular season. Anton Khudobin turned away 37 of the 39 shots he faced as Dallas had a four-game win streak snapped and settled for a 2-1 homestand. The Stars play their next two games on the road, beginning Tuesday in Buffalo. Despite the loss, the Stars held onto the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, a point ahead of idle Minnesota. Dallas fell to 6-3-0 in its past nine games and wasted the opportunity to move to within two points of third-place St. Louis in the Central Division standings. David Kampf granted Chicago the lead at the 5:10 mark of the first period when he rushed up the ice as part of a 2-on-1 breakaway with Chris Kunitz and wristed Kunitz’s give-and-go pass past Khudobin. The Stars needed just over a minute to answer as Alexander Radulov slid across the crease and collected a feed from Tyler Seguin before beating Crawford with a backhand shot. Radulov’s goal was his fourth in the past two games after he earned his first NHL hat trick in a 4-0 win over Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. DeBrincat pushed the Blackhawks back in front when he was sent in alone on a breakaway against Khudobin by a clearing pass from Patrick Kane and scored with 36 seconds to play in the opening period. --Field Level Media