Instant Analysis: Stars Punish Blackhawks with 8-1 Rout

The Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t say goodbye to 2023 fast enough. The Dallas Stars didn’t let the Hawks hang around tonight, instead leaping out to a 5-0 lead before finishing Chicago off 8-1 on New Years Eve.

It wasn’t the best of efforts for the Blackhawks, who just two nights earlier fought back valiantly. Tonight, Chicago looked tired, and disengaged.

Even Connor Bedard struggled at times, perhaps from trying too much at points. In a sequence that ended with the puck in the back of the net, Bedard tried to go through three Stars at center ice and it predictably went the other way.

After a couple chances, the Stars Tyler Seguin finished it off, making it 3-0 in favor of Dallas. The Stars would push it to 5-0 by the second intermission before the Blackhawks would find the scoresheet courtesy of a Philipp Kurashev power play marker.

But Dallas would get another, chase Petr Mrazek from the net, and cruise to their 22nd victory of the season.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, head to Nashville on a two-game losing streak and potentially without Tyler Johnson, who didn’t play the third period.

Blackhawks Looked Off From the Start

From being heavily outshot from the onset to an inability to score goals or even generate chances, Sunday’s effort ranks up there with some other clunkers this season–namely Arizona, Columbus, and Seattle.

Johnson has been fighting something injury related, but if he indeed is out for some time, it will doom an already struggling Blackhawks offense that has had issues finding the back of the net this season. Even as the Stars went into a more lax shell with a comfortable lead, Chicago flailed to get anything going.

A power play early in the third provided the only scoring punch and then it went back to the regularly scheduled programming of few chances, little offense, and the Stars flying up and down the ice.

No, it won’t be a happy New Year for the Blackhawks as they travel to Nashville with this one rolling around in their heads.

But the next three games against Nashville, the Rangers, and New Jersey doesn’t exactly spell relief for a team trying to stay competitive–and healthy.