CHICAGO – Rookies Bryan Bickell and Jeremy Morin scored goals and Corey Crawford made 28 saves in the Chicago Blackhawks' 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.
Playing without injured offensive stars Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa, the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks who won their second straight game and fifth in the last six. They led 2-0 after the first period, and 4-1 less than 3 minutes into the second.
Chicago evened its home record at 8-8-0 and moved into fourth in the Western Conference with 34 points. Dallas, second in the Western Conference, is 0-1-1 after winning six straight.
Bickell and Jonathan Toews scored Chicago's first-period goals, with two other shots ringing off the posts.
Bickell shrugged off a check from Dallas defenseman Matt Niskanen in the slot and beat Andrew Raycroft with a wrist shot to the glove side at 3:18. Toews scored his 13th goal of the season with a wrist shot from deep on right wing that deflected off Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas in crease.
Chicago expanded its lead to 4-1 with goals by Morin and Troy Brouwer early in the second period.
James Neal had the Dallas goal, and the Stars rallied late in the second period with goals 1:05 apart by Brandon Segal and Loui Eriksson. Segal beat Crawford with a screened 55-foot wrist shot, and Eriksson converted Brad Richards' pass into a score from the right-wing crease.
Patrick Sharp scored an empty-net goal for Chicago in the last second.
The Blackhawks were playing their first game without Kane, whose sprained left ankle will keep him out for up to three weeks. Hossa missed his fourth straight game because of a lower-body injury.
NOTES: Chicago placed Hossa on injured reserve while bringing up rookie forwards Morin and Rob Klinkhammer. Morin played five games for the Blackhawks earlier this season. ... Crawford, the Hawks' backup goalie, has started six of the last eight games, and got the nod ahead of former Dallas goalie Marty Turco.
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