CHICAGO _ The way to make the playoffs in today's NHL is through your divisional play.
Heck, the way to advance in the playoffs is through your divisional play.
So with the division so important, this home-and-home with the Chicago Blackhawks is huge for the Stars. Dallas took a 4-3 win in overtime Thursday at United Center and moves to 14-10-1 (29 points). Chicago picks up a point, but falls behind the Stars at 12-9-4 (28 points).
Dallas dominated the first period, despite taking four penalties. The Stars had a 15-7 advantage in shots on goal and a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Because of a lower body injury to Martin Hanzal, who will be re-evaluated Friday, Stars coach Ken Hitchcock decided to reunite the top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov. Hitchcock broke up the high-scoring trio because the Stars' other lines weren't scoring. And he warned before the game that he would break up the top line again if he needed to.
"The rest of the guys are up and running, so I think we are ready for it," Hitchcock said before the game. "Ideally, this is what you want, but if we think we are being outplayed in the middle of the ice, we'll go right back. This is very short-term, and we'll evaluate on a short-term basis. This is game to game, and there is no plan other than this works for us as long as other players are adding to the mix."
Fortunately for the Stars, they received goals from the other three lines. Mattias Janmark got the Stars on the board 14:46 into the first period when he swooped behind the net and tucked in a wraparound for his fifth goal of the season.
Chicago countered on the ensuing faceoff with an Alex DeBrincat goal to tie it up, but then the Stars' penalty killers came up big. Antoine Roussel helped spring Radek Faksa on a short-handed breakaway, and Faksa drew a hooking penalty from Patrick Kane. Faksa, who had his first career hat trick Tuesday, then scored on his first career penalty shot Thursday.
Faksa lifted in his ninth goal of the season and Dallas had a 2-1 lead.
The penalty kill was huge, as it held the Blackhawks to a 1-for-7 night on the power play.
Both teams scored in a quiet second period _ with Chicago tallying on the power play and Dallas getting a pretty goal from Remi Elie _ and then Chicago tied it up in the third period. The Blackhawks dominated played early and Kane scored off a redirection to make it 3-3 early in the period. Both sides then dug in knowing what was on the line.
Each teams made a push in the third period, and then Dallas was able to get the big play in overtime. Janmark got loose on the left wing, made a slick move and scored his second goal of the game.
The win pushes Dallas to 2-6-0 in divisional games and sets up a nice rematch Saturday at American Airlines Center.
"It means a little more than other games when you play a team that you're going to be battling with," Jason Spezza said before the game. "It's inevitable that we're going to be fighting with them in the standings down the stretch. It's a big time for us. It's a big time for us as a team. It can really separate ourselves and make a move, or you can kind of stay in the pack, so it's important to try and chip away at these games."
