{"id":476998,"date":"2025-12-28T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/476998\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T12:00:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T12:00:32","slug":"blackhawks-escape-dallas-with-unlikely-victory-after-nick-lardis-shootout-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/476998\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks escape Dallas with unlikely victory after Nick Lardis’ shootout winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

DALLAS \u2014 The Blackhawks<\/a> were dealt an extremely tough hand Saturday in terms of travel logistics, injuries and matchup.<\/p>\n

They persevered through it all.<\/p>\n

Rookie forward Nick Lardis\u2019<\/b> goal in the fourth round of a shootout lifted the Hawks to a 4-3 road victory against the Stars, snapping their six-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

Head coach Jeff Blashill<\/b> showed a bit more trust in Lardis than he had in previous games, even giving him a shift in overtime, and the young sniper eventually rewarded his faith.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He\u2019s a goal-scorer,\u2019\u2019 Blashill said. \u2018\u2018We thought he could give us a chance, especially in the situation to win it. It\u2019s two different pressures \u2014 whether you\u2019ve got a chance to win it or whether you\u2019re keeping your team alive. For a young player, putting them in a spot where they have a chance to win it is important.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The NHL prohibits team activities during the Dec. 24-26 holiday break, so the Hawks had to fly to Dallas on Saturday morning. They opted not to hold a morning skate because of the considerable length of the flight, meaning their first time on the ice since Tuesday was for warmups.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018These are hard days,\u2019\u2019 Blashill said. \u2018\u2018I\u2019ve done it a lot of different ways, and it hasn\u2019t been great. I thought, \u2018Let\u2019s try this.\u2019\u2009\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Plus, the Stars have the second-best record in the league, and the Hawks were without four important forwards: Connor Bedard<\/b>, Frank Nazar<\/b>, Nick Foligno<\/b> and Ilya Mikheyev<\/b>.<\/p>\n

An early Alex Vlasic<\/b>-to-Tyler Bertuzzi<\/b> goal made it clear the Hawks weren\u2019t going to roll over, however, and they maintained that energy throughout the game. Vlasic earned an assist on another goal by Bertuzzi \u2014 his 18th of the season \u2014 to tie the score at 3 with 7:35 left.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We wanted to go to work and show [the Stars] it wasn\u2019t going to be an easy night,\u2019\u2019 Vlasic said. \u2018\u2018And I felt like we did that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Soderblom responds<\/p>\n

Backup goalie Arvid Soderblom<\/b> needed a quality start after a string of poor performances \u2014 both by him and by the Hawks in front of him \u2014 and he delivered. He stopped 28 of 31 shots to earn his first victory since Nov. 18.<\/p>\n

Blashill credited Soderblom as a big part of the penalty kill, in particular. The Hawks went four-for-four against the Stars\u2019 excellent power play.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018As the game went along, he got better and better,\u2019\u2019 Blashill said.<\/p>\n

Soderblom has worked lately on one-on-one situations, which paid off with breakaway saves on Jamie Benn<\/b> and Mikko Rantanen<\/b> in the third period, not to mention the shootout.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018[I wanted to] have that confidence and not back up too much, stay out there, challenge the shooters and take away net,\u2019\u2019 Soderblom said. \u2018\u2018Those extra saves that I did today, I want to keep doing that for the team to have a chance in every game. That\u2019s where I know my standard is.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/p>\n

As the holiday roster freeze lifts, the Hawks will host the Penguins on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Another home game Tuesday against the Islanders lies around the corner, but the Hawks nonetheless plan to practice Monday \u2014 an extremely rare thing after a back-to-back set.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We\u2019re going to get something done in that day,\u2019\u2019 Blashill said. \u2018\u2018What happens when you don\u2019t practice is you lose those habits and structure. You can see it. I talked to [Flyers head coach] Rick Tocchet<\/b> before the game [Tuesday]. We both talked about when you don\u2019t practice, you can see it happening with your team. But if they\u2019re tired, that\u2019s no good, either. There\u2019s a balance there.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 The Blackhawks were dealt an extremely tough hand Saturday in terms of travel logistics, injuries and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":476999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-476998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-tx","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115797086911368818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}