Ugly theme continues: Hawks allow 3 goals
in second period of loss
The Hawks were successful in part because they corrected a nagging problem they couldn’t cure most of the season — bad second periods.
The Hawks had seemed to find a remedy for that in victories over the Jets and Wild. But that bugaboo reappeared in a big way as the Hawks fell to the Stars 4-0 and coach Ken Hitchcock reached a significant milestone against frequent foil Joel Quenneville.
Hitchcock became the third NHL coach to reach 800 victories behind Scotty Bowman and Quenneville.
His Stars have owned the Hawks this season and picked up their third triumph in three matchups against the Hawks, whose five-game winning streak disappeared.
Leading 1-0 after a fairly even first period, the Stars took command in the second, getting a pair of goals from Tyler Seguin and another from Antoine Roussel off a deflection. The Hawks now have a goal differential of minus-7 in second periods in contrast to plus-11 in the first and plus-9 in the third.
The first period wasn’t as bad for the Hawks, but there was a concerning moment early.
Captain Jonathan Toews was slow to get up after a hit in the back from Stars defenseman Stephen Johns. Toews, who missed time last season because of a back injury, sat out some shifts as he went to the locker room but came back later in the period for the Hawks’ first penalty kill of the night.
The Hawks survived the kill, which came after a Tommy Wingels tripping penalty. But as Wingels was coming out of the box, Remi Elie rocketed a pass to Stars center Jamie Benn, who put home the slam-dunk goal at 17 minutes, 11 seconds.
The Hawks had their best chance earlier in the period when Stars goaltender Ben Bishop bobbled a shot from Hawks defenseman Connor Murphy. Patrick Kane almost put home the rebound, but it hit the post and stayed out.
The Hawks came into Thursday tied for the league lead in most posts hit, and they seemed determined to add to that in what became a theme of the night.
Alex DeBrincat hit one on a rebound attempt earlier in the first period, and then Brent Seabrook and Nick Schmaltz each drew iron in the second.
But close was no consolation as the Stars cashed in the chances they generated.
Roussel scored a goal that was nearly impossible for Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford to stop. Roussel deflected a shot from the high slot that made it past Crawford 1:07 into the second.
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