Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton warned his team after the morning skate Tuesday that the Stars would play with desperation, hoping to start catching up to the Hawks in the standings.
Hours later, the Hawks fell victim to that exact approach by the Stars, losing 6-1 without much protest.
‘‘They were good, and we didn’t have it tonight,’’ Colliton said. ‘‘Right from the start, they were sharper, they were skating better [and] they were on top of us on the forecheck. I didn’t think we made many plays, early especially, to break pressure and create zone time. . . .That adds up to [it being] pretty tough to win.’’
Patrick Kane, who was playing his 1,000th career game, was robbed by Stars goalie Anton Khudobin late in the second period and finished without a point in 20 minutes, 35 seconds of ice time.
He’ll remember the milestone warmly, but the game that accompanied it should leave a bitter aftertaste. The Hawks were dominated from horn to horn, producing only 12 scoring chances — tied for their fewest since March 2017 — and conceding 30.
For the first time since their season-opening road trip, the Hawks have dropped consecutive games in regulation. They couldn’t have done it in much uglier fashion, losing their last five periods (dating to the second period Sunday against the Lightning) by a combined score of 12-2.
‘‘We’re a good team when we’re skating, when we’re playing on our toes and when we’re making plays,’’ defenseman Connor Murphy said. ‘‘We haven’t been doing that in the past [two games].’’
Goalie Malcolm Subban’s rebound-control woes went bad first, then the rest of his mechanics followed. Brandon Hagel, Adam Boqvist and Duncan Keith made questionable defensive decisions on the Stars’ first goal, setting the tone for the game.
The teams will play again Thursday, and the Hawks will know again ahead of time how urgent the Stars will be.
‘‘When you look at the game tonight, you’d struggle to find two or three shifts in a row when we were building momentum,’’ Colliton said. ‘‘We have to get back to that.’’
