Dallas: Ben Smith scored in the 11th round of a wild shootout as the Chicago Blackhawks finally beat the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Friday night for their fifth consecutive victory.
Chicago’s Patrick Sharp and Dallas’ Rich Peverley had the only goals through the first 10 rounds of the tiebreaker. Each of them scored in regulation as well.
It was the longest shootout in the NHL since Tampa Bay beat the New York Rangers in 11 rounds on December 23, 2010, according to the Stats website. The Lightning won that game 4-3 with a 3-2 edge in the tiebreaker.
Sharp tied it at 1-1 in 7:21 of the third period. Peverley scored at 16:40 of the first.
Stars defenceman Stephane Robidas broke his right leg in the second period and was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher and taken to hospital.
While helping to kill off a Dallas penalty, the 36-year-old Robidas slid hard into the boards beyond the goal line. He stayed down on the ice holding his leg just below the knee.
Robidas is in his 11th season with the Stars, the longest tenure on the team, and his 14th NHL season. In his absence, Dallas played only five defencemen.
Chicago has won six straight against the Stars, outscoring them 27-9, and five in a row at Dallas dating back to October 7, 2011.
Duncan Keith set up Sharp’s goal with his 21st assist.
In the first period, Shawn Horcoff beat Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford to a loose puck behind the net and passed to Peverley skating down the slot.
Crawford recovered from that goal, stopped Alex Chiasson on a penalty shot early in the second and blanked Dallas the rest of the way en route to his 100th NHL win.
Crawford and Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen combined to stop 16 consecutive shootout attempts until Smith connected.
The game was a defensive struggle. Neither team put a shot on goal until two minutes into the game. Lehtonen later stopped point-blank attempts by Brent Seabrook and Smith.
Dallas’ best scoring chance was on a backhand by Jamie Benn at the 13-minute mark until Peverley put the Stars ahead.
Dallas had an 11-9 advantage in shots during the first period.
After the penalty shot, the Stars had another good chance 10 minutes into the second but Crawford reached up to catch Ryan Garbutt’s drive before it reached the upper right corner of the net.
No one went to the penalty box until Peverley was called for tripping at 11:31 of the second.
Each team had one shot on goal in overtime, which ended with Dallas shooting a puck wide right.
