The Chicago Blackhawks started the night with good feelings Tuesday as Patrick Kane recorded another piece of personal history: his 1,000th career game.
But the positive vibes didn’t last long as the Hawks committed penalties and turnovers on a bad night for goalie Malcolm Subban. It all added up to a 6-1 loss to the Dallas Stars to start a six-game trip.
Roope Hintz assisted on the first goal, a snapper by Joel Kiviranta, and scored the sixth goal.
Before the game, Kane came out of the tunnel at the American Airlines Center with teammates lined on either side of him with sticks raised.
Stars goalie Anton Khudobin (21 saves) stole the Hawks’ thunder, as he stymied the few prime looks the Hawks got on net.
It was different on the other side, with the Hawks skaters making defensive miscalculations and exposing Subban to odd-man rushes. It’s not that Subban, making his eighth start, didn’t undermine his own cause. His fatal flaw has been giving up rebounds that put him in a vulnerable position, and the Stars cashed in, such as Joe Pavelski’s second-period goal.
The Hawks came out sluggish in the first period, when they were outshot 13-7 and didn’t pose a serious threat to Khudobin.
Kiviranta’s goal came 1:40 into the game on a two-on-one rush. Jamie Oleksiak added a goal with 4:50 left in the first.
Mattias Janmark made it 2-1 when he one-timed a sharp-angle goal 1:43 into the second period on Lucas Carlsson’s misdirection pass that looked like he was winding up for a long-range shot.
But things started to unravel after Matthew Highmore’s tripping call. John Klingberg fired from the point with Calvin de Haan protecting the front, but the puck got by him and it appeared Subban didn’t have a clear look until it was in the net. It was de Haan’s first game since getting injured while making a block Friday and then missing Sunday’s game.
Pavelski took advantage of a well-timed change that set up a solo breakaway, and Esa Lindell rounded out the second-period scoring 1:30 later.
Subban faced 17 shots in the second period and 37 overall. He had 31 saves.
