{"id":486702,"date":"2026-01-02T08:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/486702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:38:11","slug":"chicago-blackhawks-open-new-year-with-4-3-win-over-dallas-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/486702\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Blackhawks open new year with 4-3 win over Dallas Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first day of 2026 brought 18,801 fans to the United Center to watch the Chicago Blackhawks face the Dallas Stars. The Hawks upset the Stars at American Airlines Arena just five days prior, but they still faced a tall task Thursday night against a team that entered with the second-best record in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Ilya Mikheyev scored two goals, and the Hawks held off a late Stars surge to open the new year with a 4-3 victory.<\/p>\n

Mikheyev showcased his stick flair with a dazzling move at 9:14 of the second period, scoring to put the Hawks (15-18-7) up 3-1. Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen slammed his stick in frustration on the glass near the Stars bench, shattering it and causing a stoppage of play.<\/p>\n

It was that type of night for the Stars (25-9-7).<\/p>\n

\n

Photos: Chicago Blackhawks 4, Dallas Stars 3<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On Saturday, the Hawks left Dallas with a 4-3 shootout victory<\/a>. Rookie Nick Lardis was the hero, scoring the game-winner in the fourth round of the shootout.\u00a0Without their two best players \u2014 injured centers Connor Bedard<\/a> and Frank Nazar<\/a> \u2014 the Hawks have played comfortably in both matchups against one of the best teams in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find that consistency and not have those drops that we\u2019ve been having, for example against Pittsburgh and the start of last game (versus the New York Islanders),\u201d said forward Andr\u00e9 Burakovsky, who had two assists. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way to do what we\u2019re supposed to every shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s going to be shifts where they get momentum, but then you\u2019ve got to defend well and stay on the right side and not do those simple mistakes that we do sometimes that cost us goals. Today was a game we have to look at and bring more of this into the next couple games here.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what is it about the Stars matchup that makes the Hawks play so comfortably?<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week we gave up more significant chances, although tonight we did too,\u201d coach Jeff Blashill said. \u201cWe got good goaltending in both games and that\u2019s a big factor in winning and losing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad we maybe caught them at a time when they maybe didn\u2019t have it going full steam. They\u2019re an excellent team, one of the very best in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrokenBroken glass is is cleaned up from in front of the Stars bench in the second period against the Blackhawks on Jan. 1, 2026, at the United Center. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)
\n\"BrokenBroken glass is carried away as new glass is prepared to be installed in front of the Stars bench in the second period against the Blackhawks on Jan. 1, 2026, at the United Center. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Special teams was one of the reasons the Hawks were able to dominate. They had four power-play opportunities while not getting penalized until halfway through the third period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were just ready to play today, we did the right things well, we won the little battles, especially along the wall,\u201d Ryan Donato said after his two-assist night. \u201cAs funny as it seems, the clich\u00e9 things you do in hockey, we did them well tonight and I think that\u2019s what led to our success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artyom Levshunov opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 11:48 of the first period, his second goal of the season. It was a relief for Levshunov after he had two shots hit the post in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Islanders<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that we focus and continue to work on is his shot mechanics,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cThere\u2019s things that could improve there that can help elevate his ability to shoot even to a higher level.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had a lot of chances on those areas, so it\u2019s great to see it go in. It\u2019s a huge thing for confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teuvo Ter\u00e4v\u00e4inen scored the Hawks\u2019 other power-play goal just 13 seconds into the second period for a 2-1 lead. The Hawks easily killed their only penalty of the game \u2014 a Louis Crevier interference at 10:14 of the third.<\/p>\n

Mikheyev added his second of the game and eighth of the season at 3:58 of the third for a 4-1 lead before Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene scored late to pull the Stars within one, but the Hawks held on.<\/p>\n

Mikheyev would\u2019ve had a hat trick had his empty-net attempt not hit the post. Still, he had plenty of reasons to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more exciting, you know?\u201d Mikheyev said about playing after the birth of his first child. \u201cLife\u2019s changing and I\u2019m really happy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first day of 2026 brought 18,801 fans to the United Center to watch the Chicago Blackhawks face…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":486703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[4829,123609,960,291,123097,1320,155510,5386,1818,155509,86182,155512,155513],"class_list":{"0":"post-486702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-andre-burakovsky","9":"tag-artyom-levshunov","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","12":"tag-connor-bedard","13":"tag-dallas-stars","14":"tag-frank-nazar","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-ilya-mikheyev","18":"tag-jeff-blashill","19":"tag-ryan-donato","20":"tag-teuvo-teravainen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115824604332174678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486702","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=486702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}