National Hockey League
Dallas 5, Chicago 2
When: 8:30 PM ET, Friday, March 11, 2016
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Referees: Gord Dwyer, Trevor Hanson
Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Scott Cherrey
Attendance: 18532

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars knew they'd need a team effort to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night at American Airlines Center.

And thanks to a goal and an assist each from Jamie Benn, Ales Hemsky, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza plus goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopping 21 of 23 shots, Dallas prevailed 5-2.

"I thought we slowed their attack and won the special teams battle," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "That was a real big team effort from goaltender through the defense -- our young defense. I thought the forwards did a heck of a job supporting them."

Antoine Roussel also scored for Dallas (41-20-8). Seguin had the game-winner in the second period.

Teuvo Taravainen and Tomas Fleischmann scored for Chicago (41-22-8).

Fleischmann, who also had an assist, scored his 12th goal of the season on a wrist shot from the right circle with 58 seconds remaining. Ruff challenged on the grounds that Dale Weise had interfered with Lehtonen, but the goal stood after a short review.

The Stars finished 2 of 6 on the power play, victimizing a Chicago penalty kill that is killing 61.9 percent of opposing power plays in the past 13 games.

"Our special teams had probably as bad a night as you could have," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Backup goaltender Scott Darling, who stopped all 10 shots he faced in relief of Corey Crawford, headed to the bench with 8:10 remaining in regulation as Chicago tried to get back in the game with the extra attacker.

Darling returned to the crease with 6:11 remaining and Chicago still trailing 4-1.

Hemsky caught Darling heading to the bench again with 4:31 remaining and scored his 11th goal of the season.

Dallas struck first midway through the first period when Spezza scored his 26th goal of the season with the Stars on the power play. Spezza flicked a low wrist shot from near the Chicago blue line inside the left post 11:08 into the game.

The goal came when the Stars were 40 seconds into a power play after Chicago's Andrew Shaw was whistled for tripping at 10:28.

Dallas doubled its lead 1:09 into the second when Roussel scored his 12th goal of the season on a tap-in from in front of the Chicago net. Roussel received a pass from Hemsky and promptly sent the puck high into the far side of the net to make it 2-0.

The Stars went up 3-0 when Seguin scored his 33rd goal of the season 5:06 into the second period. Spezza fed Seguin, who sent a wrist shot through Crawford's five-hole. Spezza's assist was the 800th point of his NHL career.

Benn made it 4-0 when a pass from Seguin deflected in off his left skate for a power-play goal at 10:42 of the second period. The Stars were on the power play after Patrick Kane was called for cross-checking at 9:46.

Benn's goal ended the night for Crawford, who stopped 16 of 20 shots before departing for Darling.

"We matched up well," Ruff said. "Our speed has been good against them. We've been able to create some holes and put them under pressure. Our forecheck pressure resulted in a couple really nice goals."

Seguin nearly made it 5-0 at 12:24 of the second period, but his wrist shot from the right circle struck the right post.

Chicago ended the shutout at 13:01 in the second period when Teravainen scored his 11th goal of the season on a quick slap shot from near the post. Fleischmann spotted Teravainen open and delivered a perfect pass, which Teravainen quickly knocked into the open net to make it 4-1.

Dallas led 1-0 after one period and 4-1 after two.

"It is disappointing. It's frustrating," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said of the loss. "We didn't have the speed and the work ethic in the battles in the corners that we needed, so eventually we ended up taking penalties and ended up hurting ourselves. We've got to be better than that."

NOTES: Blackhawks LW Brandon Mashinter, C Michael Rasmussen and D Michal Rozsival (lower body) were scratched. ... Stars D Jordie Benn (lower body), D Jason Demers (shoulder), D John Klingberg (lower body), LW Travis Moen and LW Patrick Sharp were scratched. ... Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa returned to the ice after a nine-game absence with a leg injury. Hossa, who last played on Feb. 13 against Anaheim, returned to Chicago's top line alongside LW Andrew Ladd and C Jonathan Toews, who did not participate in morning skate on Friday, getting what coach Joel Quenneville termed a maintenance day. ... Stars D Stephen Johns made his NHL debut. A second-round pick (60th overall) of Chicago in the 2010 NHL Draft, Johns was traded to Dallas last summer along with Sharp for D Trevor Daley and LW Ryan Garbutt, both of whom have already been traded again. ... Blackhawks G Corey Crawford started his third consecutive game.
Top Game Performances
 
Chicago   Dallas
Tomas Fleischmann 2 Points Jamie Benn 2
Tomas Fleischmann 1 Goals Jamie Benn 1
Tomas Fleischmann 1 Assists Jamie Benn 1
N/A Power Play Goals Jamie Benn 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Scott Darling .909 Save Percentage Kari Lehtonen .913
Corey Crawford 16 Saves Kari Lehtonen 21
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Chicago 23 2 0-5 4-6 12 35
Dallas 31 5 2-6 5-5 10 28
Upcoming Games
  • Dallas will play their next game at home against St. Louis. The Stars have a W/L % of .550 after a win and .655 after a loss.
  • Chicago will play their next game at home against Los Angeles. The Blackhawks have a W/L % of .619 after a win and .556 after a loss.