The Blackhawks Fall To The Stars 6-3 At The United Center

Jan 18, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks left wing Patrick Sharp (10) and Dallas Stars center Shawn Horcoff (10) fight during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Blackhawks took to the ice Sunday night after coming off a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night, and the Hawks would not be able to stop the mini-slump against the Dallas Stars.

The Good

-Patrick Kane scored the first goal of the game and in turn notched his 199th career goal with the Blackhawks.

-Brandon Saad scored not one but two tying goals in the first and second periods. Saad now has 14 goals on the season and though there was talk about moving him off the first line when Patrick Sharp returned from injury has truly earned his spot on the Blackawks Top line.

The Rest OF The Story

-The rest of the story to steal the late great Paul Harvey’s catch phrase, is the defensive breakdowns that the Blackhawks are suffering from and we can point to really all 6 of the defenseman who are not playing like they were at the beginning of the season.

-To be honest, Michal Rozsival is excited about playing on a daily basis, but he really belongs in the pressbox. He’s a step slow and when he doesn’t handle the puck perfectly always seems to put himself and the team in danger of a turnover.

– I put this on Twitter, but let’s hope that TVR returns sooner than expected and healthy again. The David Rundblad/Erixon Swedish combo on the 3rd defensive pairing just isn’t cutting it and TVR was a young stable defenseman before his injury.

– Andrew Shaw’s game is not where it needs to be. Shaw only has 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 18 games. Sure you need grinders and players not worried about their stat line, but that line shows that even though he’s annoying to play against he’s not playing his game either every night.

– Corey Crawford wasn’t good tonight. He had a .848 save percentage for the night and although he was left high and dry and made some good saves it wasn’t enough. I’m still not convinced that he’s 100% after his concert injury and shouldn’t be in net every night. One other thing is that due to getting voted to the All-Star game he will not get a week off.