Heika's Take: Stars give themselves peace of mind as they defeat Blackhawks in 4-2 win

Bon Voyage gifts can vary from international currency adapters to sea sickness pills to a bottle of champagne, but the Stars gave themselves maybe the best present of all on Saturday night.

Peace of mind.

As the lads in Victory Green board a plane for Finland Sunday and prepare themselves for a week overseas capped by a couple of games with the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, they will be able to enjoy the journey coming off a 4-2 win over Chicago at American Airlines Center that pushes Dallas to 7-2-0 on the season.

“We were really thinking about this one,” said Stars captain Jamie Benn, who scored his second goal of the year. “Coming off probably our best game of the year, we set a standard in Boston, and we bring that every night and it was good to get two points.”

The Stars took a 3-0 lead by finding a way to solve red hot Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek, and then held on when the Blackhawks pushed back in the third period. Matt Duchene tallied his second goal of the game on an empty-netter to seal the win, but the bottom line was Dallas felt very good about the overall performance.

“We did a lot of good things,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “The game probably didn’t feel as good as it could’ve because of the last ten minutes where they had a couple of goals and made it close. On the other end, Mrazek made some big saves. I thought we could have had five or six, but we were pretty good tonight. We deserved to win and that’s what we did.”

The Stars knew there could be some distractions in this one, as the team came back from a two-game road trip in Buffalo and Boston and will head out to Finland on Sunday. So, getting a win against the struggling Blackhawks was important as the team will have to play the Panthers twice.

“I think it’s nice to kind of go in on a high note,” said forward Logan Stankoven, who had an assist in the game and now has 9 points in 9 games. “You know Florida is going to be a strong team, so we are going to have to up our competitiveness and play like we did in Boston. I thought that was a complete 60 minutes from us.”

Dallas played a strong game in Boston and was hoping to follow that up on Saturday. It was the better team in getting a 15-8 advantage in shots on goal and a 35-12 edge in shot attempts in the opening 20 minutes. Still, the only player to beat Mrazek was Evgenii Dadonov, who chased down a nice flip pass from Esa Lindell and then tucked in a breakaway for his first goal of the season.

Chicago pushed back and Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was solid in holding the 1-0 lead. Then, Benn was able to work hard for positioning before batting a rebound out of the air into the net for a 2-0 lead 14 minutes into the second period. Benn had a fantastic game with four shots on goal and a 7-1 performance in the faceoff circle. Just as important, he helped push his line into some tough shifts.

“I thought it was his best game of the year,” DeBoer said. “I thought he was moving really well. I thought he was moving his feet and driving the net and hanging around the net. When he does that, he’s a really hard guy to handle.”

Duchene cashed in a Stankoven pass to give Dallas its fourth power play goal in the past two games, and that was crucial as Chicago scored twice in five minutes to create a little drama down the stretch. But Oettinger held strong and Duchene tallied the empty-netter as the Stars created a good vibe to get on the plane.

“Our group has been talking about it since it was announced,” DeBoer said. “For the Finish guys, it’s obviously extra special. They’re excited to see their families and play in front of families and also to show our group their hometown. They’re proud of where they come from. It’s a great distraction. We’ve been here through an entire camp and played nine games, we’ve got our legs under us. It’s a nice point to kind of take a break and do something different.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @MikeHeika.