In a must-win situation the rest of the year, the Stars took down another one of the NHL’s best teams with a 4-0 win over the Blackhawks.

Patrick Eaves got the first goal of the game on an odd man rush following a Chicago turnover. Alex Goligoski laid a perfect pass right on Eaves’ stick as Eaves skated unaccounted for down the right side of the Chicago defense and Goligoski passed it 40 feet on a diagonal right to Eaves who put it past Crawford stick side right under the crossbar to score. Jyrki Jokipakka also was given an assist in the goal with 9:51 left in the period. Later in the first Niklas Hjallmarsson was called for hooking and gave Dallas a power play. Dallas took full advantage as Tyler Seguin scored and put Dallas up 2-0. Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza were given helpers on the goal with just 3:07 remaining in the period. 

In the third the Stars put the icing on the cake when Shawn Horcoff scored his 11th on a power play, assisted by Ales Hemsky and Goligoski. Later Eaves set up Jason Spezza after stealing the puck in Chicago’s zone. Eaves made the pass and then Spezza waited for the screen to cross Crawford’s face and then put it home over the glove hand. 

Dallas welcomes hapless Buffalo to the American Airlines Center on Monday, their last game against the Eastern Conference before they close the season with nine games against the West. Dallas is 7-3 in March. Six of their ten remaining games are against the Pacific division, which they have dominated this season—10-4-1 against the seven Pacific teams. They are down, but certainly not out of the playoff hunt. They are eight points behind the Jets for the 8th seed, currently tied with Colorado and San Jose for 10th in the west, but Colorado has a game in hand. The reigning champion Kings are ninth with 82 points. 

Chicago is still in good shape with 92 points despite the loss, which snaps a four game winning streak. They are four points behind the Blues and Predators, but have one and two games in hand, respectively. The Blackhawks continue their road trip in Charlotte on Monday night as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes.