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Blackhawks hit the road to battle Stars

Dec 10, 2013 - 4:38 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago Blackhawks will have to get by without goaltender Corey Crawford on Tuesday when they try to make it two straight wins against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak on Sunday at home versus Florida, as Patrick Sharp had a goal and two assists to help the Blackhawks get past the Panthers, 6-2.

Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa and Brandon Saad all registered a goal and an assist in the victory, with Michal Handzus and Andrew Shaw scoring the other two goals.

Antti Raanta made 29 saves after taking over for an injured Crawford late in the first period.

Crawford, who is tied for the NHL lead with 17 wins, went down to make a pad save on Marcel Goc and was unable to get back up on his skates and had to be helped off the ice.

"I haven't talked to the (doctors), but I don't think it's too serious," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said of Crawford's injury. "When it's a goalie, it's a little more serious than other players because of how important he is to our team."

Crawford did not join his team on the trip to Dallas, meaning Raanta will likely be between the pipes on Tuesday. He though, is not 100-percent either after being elbowed in the head by Florida's Jimmy Hayes in a collision midway through the third period.

"Usually if the goalie is down it's something really bad," said Raanta, who . "But I just tried to get my mind in the game, get focused, and do the right things.

"That's the job I came here to do. If the coaches say I'm going to the net, I am, and I'll be as good as possible."

The Blackhawks have also recalled goalie Kent Simpson from Rockford of the AHL.

Dallas, meanwhile, enters on a winning note as well after Tyler Seguin's natural hat trick fueled a 5-1 thrashing of the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Seguin's outburst marked his first goals since exploding for four in a 7-3 win at Calgary on Nov. 14, and came in his second game back from a concussion.

Valeri Nichushkin added a goal and three assists for the Stars, who won for only the third time in their last eight games.

"I felt Val played awesome tonight. When he's competing and you see a little fire in him he's a different player than when he's just going through the motions," Seguin said of his linemate. "When you look at the first few games in this league and the last nine or 10, he's definitely transitioned well."

Cody Eakin contributed a score, Alex Goligoski picked up two helpers and Dan Ellis stopped 27 shots in the win.

The win came at a cost for the Stars, though, as center Vernon Fiddler went down with an upper body injury and is expected to miss one week.

Of course, the Stars are already without Stephane Robidas, who is slated to miss at least four months because of a broken leg, and fellow defenseman Trevor Daley, who is on the shelf with an ankle ailment.

"Every team deals with it," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "Early on we didn't deal with a lot and now we've dealt with two pretty serious ones on the backend. It doesn't look like Fidds will be a long time, so it's something we've got to get through, other guys have to elevate their play and fill bigger holes."

Chicago has won five straight in Dallas with two of those wins coming in November.