The Chicago Blackhawks took on the Dallas Stars at the United Center on Thursday night. This New Year’s Eve match was the second between these two teams in less than a week.
Last Saturday, the Blackhawks beat the Stars in Dallas in a shootout. Despite having the second-best record in the NHL entering play Thursday, the Stars haven’t won a game since Dec. 21, when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs at home 5-1.
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In Chicago’s last game, a shootout loss to the New York Islanders, Artyom Levshunov was brilliant. He defended well, used his speed to create chances, hit a few posts and had an assist. He followed it up with a solid game against the Stars on Thursday.
Levshunov opened the scoring. After a race to the net in front of Jake Oettinger, the puck came to Levshunov a little further from the net, and he chose a corner.
Just under three minutes later, Mikko Rantanen made a big move to beat Spencer Knight and tie the score. From there, the Blackhawks started to take over.
At the end of the first period, Nils Lundkvist received a two-minute minor penalty for crossing Oliver Moore. This promised the Hawks a power play with clean ice to open the second.
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Just 13 seconds into the middle period, the Blackhawks took advantage of this power play. A nice play from Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky allowed Teuvo Teravainen to find the puck wide open in front of the net. He didn’t miss his shot.
With 9:14 left in the second period, Ilya Mikheyev scored the best goal we’ve seen in the NHL this season. That gave the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead, a score that held until the third.
At 3:58 of the third period, Mikheyev scored his second of the game to make it 4-1. It wasn’t as impressive as his first goal, but it still counts. When Jake Oettinger watches the replay of this one, he won’t like it.
Later in the period, with less than five minutes left in regulation, the Stars scored a goal with Oettinger on the bench for the extra attacker. Jason Robertson scored to cut the deficit to two.
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With the goalie pulled again, Ilya Mikheyev attempted to score his first career hat trick and seal the game from his own blue line, but he hit the inside of the post. The Stars then came down the ice and scored again to make it 4-3 with 17 seconds left. Matt Duchene received a perfect pass from Wyatt Johnston and beat Spencer Knight.
The Blackhawks were able to hold on and win 4-3 from there. The game ended up being a lot closer, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was Chicago’s best game since Connor Bedard went down with an injury.
Chicago is now 2-1-1 since the holidays. Both wins are against Dallas, who is one of the best teams they will face all year. Whether it’s the emergence of Artyom Levshunov, the warm-up of Ilya Mikheyev or the other young players making a difference, things seem to be heading back in the right direction like they were earlier in the season.
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What’s next for the Blackhawks?
The Blackhawks are back in action Saturday night. They will hit the road for a game as they take on the Washington Capitals in the nation’s capital.
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