Crawford, Blackhawks shut out Stars, end their winning streak at seven

Corey Crawford made 32 saves for the Chicago Blackhawks in his first shutout of the season, a 3-0 win against the Dallas Stars at United Center on Tuesday.

Patrick Kane scored to extend his point streak to 13 games for the Blackhawks (10-9-5), who were 0-2-1 in their previous three, including a 2-1 shootout loss at the Stars on Saturday.
"I think we played really good defensively," Crawford said. "There] were a few times where we got stuck in our zone, and you know, we didn't panic. Just kept them to the outside. Some big blocked saves by [Brent Seabrook] there -- a couple kick saves.
"It was a good win against a really good team. We've just got to build off that, I think."
***[WATCH: [All Stars vs. Blackhawks highlights]*
Anton Khudobin made 35 saves for the Stars (15-9-2), who lost for the first time in eight games, falling one victory shy of setting a franchise record for longest winning streak.
"I don't think we talked about it much, but we definitely addressed it and we knew it was there and available," Dallas forward Jason Dickinson said. "The records are nice to set, but it's not what we're here to do. We're here to just win games. That's what we tried to do tonight and fell short."
The regulation loss ended the Stars' point streak at 12 games (11-0-1). They were coming off a 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
"It was tough," Dallas forward Radek Faksa said of playing their third game in four nights. "But we had to play smart with changes, and we felt good. We just didn't score goals. It's tough. Tough to win when you don't score goals."
Brandon Saad scored from the right hash marks off Erik Gustafsson's pass from above the right face-off circle to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 11:20 of the first period.

Kane made it 2-0 when he scored on the power play at 10:42 of the third period. He has 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) during the 13-game streak, which is tied with Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon and Boston Bruins forwards Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak for longest in the NHL this season.
"[Crawford] made some saves, and we made some plays and got the lead," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "That was nice too -- had a chance to play from ahead. Power play came through with a big goal for us. [The Stars are] a really good team, obviously. To get three of four points in this set is positive for us, and now we've got to take a couple days to get ready for another two big ones."
Connor Murphy scored into an empty net at 17:20 for the 3-0 final.
"I thought our effort was really good for three (games) in four nights," Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. "We had our chances, didn't capitalize on our chances. [Khudobin] gave us a chance, we were a shot away in the third, but we couldn't come through."
The Stars went 0-for-2 on the power play after going 2-for-3 against the Golden Knights.

They said it

"We're very happy about ourselves. We bounced back from the tough start (1-7-1 in first nine games), and now we feel really good about our game. Many chances today, we just didn't execute. But I think it wasn't a bad game. We had seven (consecutive) wins before, so we knew [the loss] would come one day. The next game, we have to come back, play our game, and get back on a winning streak." -- Stars forward Radek Faksa on their seven-game winning streak ending
"I think [goalie Robin Lehner] been playing really well, and it's just kind of worked in our favor right now that he's playing so good. And I get in there and play pretty well. I don't know. It's hard for me to answer. It's not my choice. I just try and be ready when I get the call." -- Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford

Need to know

Dallas has won seven games in a row four times. Prior to this season, it had not done so since Jan. 29-Feb. 11, 2008. The Minnesota North Stars won seven straight games once, from March 16-28, 1980. ... The Stars were shut out for the third time in this season, first since Oct. 26 (3-0 loss to Pittsburgh Penguins). ... Khudobin made 73 saves on 76 shots (.961 save percentage) in his past two games. ... The Blackhawks announced before the game that forward Dylan Strome is in the NHL concussion protocol. It was the first game he missed this season.

What's next

Stars: Host the St. Louis Blues on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; SNE, SNW, SNP, FS-SW+, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Friday (4 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, ALT, NHL.TV)