Game Recap: Stars Snap Losing Streak In Much-Needed Overtime Win Over Blackhawks

On Saturday night, the crowd was roaring as the Stars looked to knock off their division rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, on home ice. After losing five straight games in regulation, the game felt like a must-win for Dallas and the environment matched that intensity.

Unfortunately, just a few minutes into the game, the arena became silent as Tanner Kero was knocked unconscious on an illegal hit from a Blackhawks forward. After laying still on the ice for several minutes as fans, teammates, and coaches watched nervously, Kero was stretchered off and transported to a local hospital.

"It's terrible. I've been there before," said Joe Pavelski, whose teammates staged one of the great comebacks in league history following his injury, scoring three times on the power play and beating the Golden Knights in Game 7 after trailing 3-0 in the third period.

"My teammates rallied around me that night," he added while fighting back tears. "It flashes back there. Tanner, he's awesome. He's soft-spoken, he works hard, he doesn't miss a day. When he gets called on to play, he shows up, he makes great plays, he plays hard. He's a great teammate. We've heard he's doing all right. That win is definitely for him. We just say our prayers for a speedy recovery. It sucks."

The air was completely sucked out of the building as the game became secondary to the health of the Stars forward.

"It's very upsetting to see any player laying on the ice like that," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "It gets emotional because they're part of your family, and you see them injured. It's very difficult. I saw him moving his feet and arms, so that was good, gave him a little tap when he left the ice, and then we got good news right away that he was responsive. But yeah, that's hard for all the players on both sides.”

For Kero and the Stars family, the news did become more positive as Kero was fully alert and responsive on his way to the hospital. Further tests will be run and we will likely know more in the coming hours.

Then came the tough task of getting back into a hockey game. Dallas looked to respond to all of this on the ensuing major penalty that put them up a man for five straight minutes. It did not take long as a pass from Pavelski banked in off a defender's skate to open the scoring almost immediately. Pavelski was not done yet, however, as just minutes later, he tapped in a beautiful pass from Alexander Radulov to put the Stars ahead 2-0 in a flash.

"We needed to do something right away on that power play," Bowness said. "You get five minutes. And the power play was so bad the other night in St. Louis, it was great to see them respond, and they did. And when you get that, and one of your teammates is injured, you want to go out there and make them pay, and we did."

At the end of the first period, Dallas was outshooting Chicago 18-4 and holding a 2-0 lead. However, the remainder of the game was anything but easy.

After Chicago scored a beautiful power-play goal to cut the lead in half, Jason Robertson responded seconds later with a backhand shot that he tucked into the top corner over the shoulder of Kevin Lankinen making the game 3-1 in favor of Dallas. From there, Chicago found a way to score two straight goals in transition, including the tying goal 11:55 into the third period after a broken Stars stick turned into an odd-man rush the other way.

The two teams battled to overtime, ending the Stars five-game pointless streak but they knew they needed to find a way to gain the second point.

After a wild sequence that saw scoring chances on both ends, Patrick Kane hooked onto Radek Faksa as he attempted to score on a 2-on-1 rush for Dallas. On the ensuing power play, a beautiful passing play from Hintz to Pavelski to Klingberg resulted in the defenseman's first goal of the season and an emotional 4-3 overtime win for the Stars.

"It was a big win," Pavelski said. "We've got to keep going, though, we've got a ways to go."

The Stars will continue their current Central Division trek when they take on the first-place Minnesota Wild at home on Monday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.