The Blackhawks' two games before taking on the Stars were arguably the best consecutive performances the Hawks made all season.
They were successful in part because the Hawks corrected a nagging problem they couldn't cure most of the season _ bad second periods.
The Hawks had seemed to find a remedy for that in wins over the Jets and Wild. But that bugaboo reappeared in a big way as the Hawks fell to the Stars, 4-0, in coach Ken Hitchcock's 800th career win.
After leading 1-0 following an fairly even first period, the Stars took command in the second, getting a pair of goals from Tyler Seguin and another off a deflection from Antoine Roussel. The Hawks now have a goal differential of minus-7 in second periods to go with plus-11 in the first and plus-9 in the third.
The first period wasn't as bad for the Hawks but there was a concerning moment early.
Captain Jonathan Toews was slow to get up following a hit in the back from Stars defenseman Stephen Johns. Toews, who missed time last season because of a back injury, missed some shifts as he went to the locker room but came back out later in the period for the Hawks' first penalty kill of the night.
The Hawks survived the kill, which came after a Tommy Wingels tripping penalty, but as Wingels was coming out of the box, Remi Elie rocketed a pass to Stars center Jamie Benn, who put home the slam-dunk goal at 17:11.
The Hawks had their best chance earlier in the period when Stars goaltender Ben Bishop bobbled a shot from Hawks defenseman Connor Murphy. Patrick Kane almost put home rebound, but it hit the post.
The Hawks came into Thursday as the team that hit the most posts, and they were determined to add to that in what became a theme of the night.
Alex DeBrincat hit one on a rebound attempt earlier in the first period, then Brent Seabrook and Nick Schmaltz each drew iron in the second.
But close was no consolation as the Stars cashed in the chances they generated.
Roussel scored a goal that was nearly impossible for Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford to stop. He deflected a shot from the high slot that made it past Crawford 1:07 into the second.
Seguin got his first goal on a power play following a blocked shot from Connor Murphy. Seguin scrambled to get the puck in front of Crawford and crossed him up, leading to a 3-0 Stars lead at 5:55.
His second goal came the hard way after a scrum in front of a loose puck. Seguin got position on Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook and stuffed the puck past Crawford's pads at 16:14.
