Stars hammered by division-leading Blackhawks

Before Saturday’s matchup, he Dallas Stars had faced the divisional-rival Chicago Blackhawks only once this season.

The Stars dismantled the defending Stanley Cup champions 4-0 on Dec. 22 in a game that featured a Stars team that led the Central Division with an offense that was the talk of the league.

Since then, the wind has left Dallas’ sails. After a sluggish month of January, the Stars watched as Chicago caught and passed them from the division lead.

After Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Blackhawks at a sold-out American Airlines Center, the Stars appeared dead in the water.

“They came to play. They were ready to go and embarrassed us in front of our fans and in our own building,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said.

Chicago scored a power-play goal 34 seconds after the opening faceoff and led 2-1 before blowing the game open with two short-handed goals by Marian Hossa and Artem Anisimov.

The two goals marked the eighth and ninth short-handed goals allowed by the Stars this season, good enough for second-worst in the NHL behind Arizona’s 10.

Brent Seabrook, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Patrick Kane also had goals for the Blackhawks.

Anisimov tied a career high with four points, notching three assists to go with his goal.

The victory stretched the Blackhawks’ lead in the Western Conference and the Central Division to five points over the Stars.

Dallas also continued a 10-game streak of sellouts Saturday, which was the 17th of the season.

“It’s a huge game and we talked about it before the game and what it means,” Stars forward Vern Fiddler said. “When you just kind of lay an egg, that’s unacceptable. There’s a lot of disappointed guys in here and we let our fans down tonight.”

The Stars had their chances, missing three wide-open nets in the game and failing to score in six power-play opportunities.

Dallas outshot Chicago 37-26, but Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford was good on all but Tyler Seguin’s put-back off a Jamie Benn shot that caromed off the post late in the first period.

Stars coach Lindy Ruff pulled starting goaltender Antti Niemi after the first period in which he allowed three goals. Kari Lehtonen gave up two goals in the second period.

However, in front of both goaltenders was a top defensive pair of John Klingberg and Alex Goligoski that finished minus-3 on the night.

“This one is on the team. It’s not just goalies,” Ruff said. “Our top pair had a real rough night. When that happens, most times you’re going to have a tough night as a team.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Stars hammered by division-leading Blackhawks."