Texas Hold 'Em (chicago)

While divisional matches are always crucial, the game was secondary as former Blackhawk and current Stars forward Tanner Kero was stretchered off the ice after Brett Connolly caught him with a hit that knocked him out. The incident drew an immediate flashback to Jujhar Khaira's injury sustained on December 7.

The Blackhawks and IceHogs both rallied to come back in their respective games in Texas but fell short. The Hawks stormed back from being down 2-0 and 3-1 to force overtime. In the back-to-back OT losses, the Hawks at least picked up a point in each to make small deposits in the standings.

As for the Hogs, they fell into an 0-3 deficit before scoring a pair of goals late in the 3rd period to inch within one of tying the game. The silver lining for the Blackhawks organization this weekend was the return of top prospect Lukas Reichel who picked up where he left off with his offensive dominance.

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Blackhawks Game Summary

Starting Lineup

DeBrincat - Strome - Kane Hagel - Toews - Entwistle Kubalik - Dach - Kurashev Connolly - Slavin - Carpenter

C Jones - S Jones McCabe - Murphy Stillman - Gustafsson

Lankinen Fleury

Scratches: Gabriel, de Haan, Mitchell

Scoring Recap

1st Goal (0-1): Pavelski (Klingberg) PP 2nd Goal (0-2): Pavelski (Hintz, Radulov) PP 3rd Goal (1-2): DeBrincat (Kane, Gustafsson) PP 4th Goal (1-3): Robertson (Hintz, Pavelski) 5th Goal (2-3): Strome (Hagel, C Jones) 6th Goal (3-3): Kubalik (Hagel) 7th Goal (3-4): Klingberg (Pavelski, Hintz) PP

SOG For/Against: 23/39 PP: 1-for-3 PK: 5-for-8 Faceoffs Won: 39%

Game Notes

* The Blackhawks played more than a third of the game shorthanded as they were in penalty trouble with a game misconduct and a half dozen minors including successive infractions midway through the 1st period that gave the Stars a 5-on-3 PP.

* One of those penalties was the hooking call on Patrick Kane in overtime which illustrated why getting whistled to the box in the 4th frame is a momentum killer and -- in this case -- a game killer.

* The Hawks blueline laid their bodies on the line blocking 13 shots with 3 apiece by Seth Jones, Connor Murphy, and Jake McCabe; Kirby Dach actually led the team with 4 blocked shots.

Highlights

Goal by Alex DeBrincat

IceHogs Game Summary

Starting Lineup

Hardman - Reichel - Nylander Teply - McLaughlin - Busdeker Morrison - Barratt - Gicewicz Altybarmakian - Mitchell - Osipov

Philips - Galvas Kalynuk - Regula Stanton - Beaudin

Soderblom Delia

Scoring Recap

1st Goal (0-1): McKenzie (Melnick) 2nd Goal (0-2): McKenzie (L'Esperance, Shea) 3rd Goal (0-3): Felhaber (Shea, Back) 4th Goal (1-3): Hardman (Reichel, Stanton) 5th Goal (2-3): Reichel (Kalynuk, McLaughlin) PP

SOG For/Against: 27/29 PP: 1-for-3 PK: 2-for-2

Game Notes

* Arvid Soderblom and Jakub Galvas played their first game since coming off of concussion protocol earlier in the week.

* Reichel played with incredible pace with a few breakaways and other solo efforts manufactured by his hockey sense, speed, and ability to knife through the defense.

* As a volume shooter, Michal Teply got hard shots off but they were either off target or into the crest or glove of the opposing netminder.

Highlights

Tanner Kero

Initial Team Update

Hit by Brett Connolly
Comments by Joe Pavelski
Comments by Rick Bowness
Comments by Derek King

Roster Updates

Once de Haan is healthy, expect Mitchell to get reassigned back to the Hogs especially with the Hawks off until Thursday as Tuesday's game versus the Panthers got postponed and the Hogs play on Tuesday. After Christmas, the Hawks play again on the 28th while the Hogs hit the ice again on the 27th.

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See you on the boards!

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