THREE THINGS: Power Shift, Vinnie to Kuby and Flip Connect

The Blackhawks and Stars went toe-to-toe in the opening period on Thursday night, tied 1-1 after 20 minutes of play and combining for 28 shots, edged 16-12 Chicago. But the second period got away from the home side as Dallas netted three and added another in the third en route to a 5-1 win over the Chicago.

"I liked our first period. It was a hockey game," head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "They were playing hard and I thought we were right there with them. We had a lot of the play, I think we created a lot of O-zone time... Last two periods, obviously we gave them some goals with some individual mistakes."
"That's been a little bit of a theme with our losses. We seem to be a little bit fragile," defenseman Connor Murphy said. "Instead of picking each other up after whether it's a mistake on a goal or a shift where they're on us, we don't seem to be responding very well. That's on us as a group and the leadership to be able to recognize things and get our team going in the right direction."

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

POWER SHIFT

The Stars took advantage of a power-play for the game's opening goal in the first period. Then, in the second, a Dylan Strome penalty negated a Blackhawks power play and the Stars soon after took a 2-1 lead at 4-on-4. Just past the midpoint of the game, Dallas made it 3-1 with a second man-advantage tally and the game seemed to drift away from there.
"The first period was pretty good and then they scored on the power play and we just didn't respond," lone scorer Dominik Kubalik said. "Frustrating, but we've got to let it go, learn from it and be ready because the games are coming and every single game is huge right now."
In the last three outings, the penalty kill has allowed three goals on six attempts.On the flip side, the power play went 0-for-3 on the night and has gone 1-for-20 over the last seven games.
"We have been giving up too many goals and it's very frustrating," Murphy said of the penalty kill specifically. "We take a lot of pride in the penalty kill, so it stings when you're giving them up, but you've just got to stick with it."
"I liked a lot of things about our game tonight and I just think that we had some power plays we didn't use," Kubalik said. Those special teams are huge. We need to learn from it and be better next time."

VINNIE TO KUBY

For the second straight game, a Blackhawks goal read Kubalik from Vinnie Hinostroza on the scoresheet as the newly-acquired forward closed out his first week back in the organization with his second primary setup of the reigning rookie goal leader.
Hinostroza picked the puck out of a corner scrum in the offensive zone, turned and quickly fed the back-post streaking Kubalik with a pass in the opening period to tie the game, 1-1. On Tuesday night, the pair converted a 2-on-1 chance for their first combo goal.
"That's a good thing. I felt like right away, from the first game, we kind of know what to expect from each other," Kubalik said. "That's always nice. Very positive (start), just stay with it and just keep it rolling like that. We've got to bring it next game again."
"Vinnie complements those two with pace and he has some skill," Colliton said. "They've given us some good shifts. Not surprised. Hopefully they can build on it."

FLIP CONNECT

At every Blackhawks home game this season, Patrick Kane has flipped a puck skywards towards the 200 Level to Blackhawks mascot, Tommy Hawk. The duo have connected via bounce or floor-grab on a handful of occasions, but on Thursday night, it was the real deal in the 21st attempt (not counting the 1Kane celebration when all 20 No. 88s on the ice sent a barrage of rubber towards the helpless bird).
Kane's reaction to the catch said it all.