The Hockey News: Headlines: Versteeg's goal, Khabibulin's 31 saves lead Blackhawks past Stars

Versteeg's goal, Khabibulin's 31 saves lead Blackhawks past Stars

2008-11-20 23:30:00

DALLAS - Kris Versteeg scored the tiebreaking power-play goal with 30 seconds left in the second period, and Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 31 shots to help the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars 6-3 on Thursday night.

Patrick Kane had a pair of goals for the Blackhawks, who were winless in three of their previous four, and Martin Havlat, Ben Eager and Brian Campbell added goals.

With the score tied 3-3 in the closing seconds of the second period, Versteeg sped around three Stars and skated to the front of the net, beating Dallas goalie Marty Turco for Versteeg's seventh goal of the season.

Havlat fired a shot past a screened Turco at 6:40 of the third period to extend the lead to 5-3, and Kane added an empty-netter with 15.9 seconds left.

The 35-year-old Khabibulin has been the subject of trade speculation, but has been the Blackhawks' best goalie early this season. He improved his record to 6-1-4.

Khabibulin kept it tied in the first period when Dallas held a 14-7 shots edge.

Brenden Morrow, Mike Modano and rookie James Neal scored for the slumping Stars, who failed in a bid for their first consecutive victories of the season. Modano has 534 career goals, extending his record for U.S.-born players.

Morrow's rebound put the Stars in front at 7:37 of the opening period.

Dallas dominated the initial 13 minutes of the opening period with a 10-1 shots-on-goal edge. But Chicago tied it 1-1 with 37 seconds left in the first period on Kane's wrister from the left circle.

Chicago went in front 2-1 at 6:44 of the second period when Eager skated in alone and beat Turco from the right circle, but Dallas tied it at 2 on Modano's power-play goal at 7:50 of the second period.

Campbell answered for the Blackhawks with a man-advantage goal at 9:08 of the second period for a 3-2 advantage.

Neal pulled Dallas even at 3 on a rebound at 16:06 of the second period.

Notes: The Stars have lost six of their last eight. ... RW Jere Lehtinen, Dallas' best defensive forward, was scratched and will be out a week and a half with what the club termed an "upper-body" injury. Lehtinen missed the first 14 games because of a groin injury, played in three games, and then sustained a different injury. ... D Darryl Sydor played his first game with the Stars this season after being acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh on Sunday. It is Sydor's third stint with the Stars. ... Chicago had lost 10 of its previous 11 road games against Dallas.

COMMENTS (3)

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TOM COTNER Posted
(2009-04-30 07:21:32)

SO THE OLE SAYING GOES, GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, RIGHT. NIKKI K. IS AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME THIS YEAR. WOWSER !!! WHO KNEW THAT ALL THE HAWKS NEEDED TO DO WAS TO PUT A DECENT TEAM IN FRONT OF HIM. HE'S STANDING ON HIS HEAD EVERY GAME OUT. HE'S FLICKING OUT HIS LEG PADS AS THOUGH THEY HAVE THE SAME WEIGHT AS TONY ESPOSITO'S 1970 PADS. HIS GLOVE HAND IS LIKE A BLUE DART AND IS FASTER THAN MUHAMMAD ALI'S ABILITY TO FLIP THE LIGHT SWITCH AND BE IN BED BEFORE THE LIGHT GOES OUT. THEN I GET THE WIND KNOCKED OUT OF ME AS I READ A COLUMN THAT INDICATES THAT THE HAWKS ARE ABOUT TO PULL THE TRIGGER ON A TRADE THAT WOULD SEND KHABIBULIN TO THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS FOR MICHAEL NYLANDER SO THEY CAN GET UNDER THE CAP. HUH ???? PERHAPS DALE TALLON SHOULD REALIZE THAT HIS TEAM IS CURRENTLY IN THE DRIVERS SEAT REGARDING A GOALIE TRADE AND THUS ARE THE DICTATORS, NOT THE LISTENERS. AND IF THEY ARE TRADING A GOALIE RIGHT NOW, IT SURE AS HECK ISN'T KHABIBULIN. IF THE CAPS TRADE FOR A GOALIE RIGHT NOW, THAT WOULD MEAN THEY'RE SENDING THEODORE PACKING, BUT HE PLAYED THE DUCKS THE OTHER NIGHT AS THOUGH THEY WERE MALLARDS. BRENT JOHNSON HAS PLAYED WELL, SO THERE'S NO NEED FOR THEM TO GET ANOTHER GOALIE. ONDREJ PAVELEC PLAYED WELL FOR ATLANTA IN A LOSS VS. PITTSBURGH LAST NIGHT. THAT MIGHT INDICATE THAT KARI LEHTONEN IS ON THE BLOCK, BUT NEW JERSEY SAYS NO GOLAIE TRADE FOR NOW. OTTAWA SEEMS TO THINK THEY'RE FINE IN NET WITH ALEX AULD AS A STARTER, BUT THAT IS A SERIOUS THINKING ERROR, AS THEY TRY TO CLIMB OUT OF 15TH PLACE. SINCE IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO TRADE A GOOD PLAYER WITHIN YOUR CONFERENCE, THE SUGGESTION HAS TO BE IF THE HAWKS ARE DETERMINED TO TRADE A GOALIE, TO MOVE CRYSTOBAL HUET TO THE SENATORS FOR JASON SPEZZA. IT WOULD BE A LATERAL MOVE FOR THE HAWKS BUT A SOLUTION FOR OTTAWA, AS THEY WOULD BE SET FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON PLUS 3 MORE YEARS. BUT IF THE HAWKS TRADE NIKKI KHABIBULIN RIGHT NOW, I DON'T THINK I WOULD WANT TO BE IN TALLON'S SEAT WHEN THE HAWKS TAKE THE ICE FOR THEIR NEXT HOME GAME, KNOWING THAT THERE WILL PROBABLY BE 22,000 + FANS IN THE U/C BARN. THAT WOULD PUT AN ABSOLUTE INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF PRESSURE ON NYLANDER OR ANY OTHER INCOMING CENTRE. IF THE HAWKS DO NOT WANT TO TRADE HUET, THEN THE THOUGHT PROCESS WOULD BE TO SEND HIM TO ROCKFORD TO GET UNDER THE CAP AND ROTATE THE 2 ROOKIE GOALIES, COREY CRAWFORD, AND ANTTI NIEMI AROUND KHABIBULKIN WITH BOTH YOUN GSTERS GETTING PLAYING TIME.