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Stars get by Blackhawks thanks to Eakin, Lehtonen

Jan 19, 2015 - 4:26 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Cody Eakin's first career two-goal contest plus 38 saves from Kari Lehtonen resulted in a 6-3 Dallas Stars victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night at United Center.

Tyler Seguin, Vernon Fiddler, Erik Cole and Shawn Horcoff added one score each for the Stars, winners of two straight and three of four after losing four in a row.

Jamie Benn added three assists and Alex Goligoski chipped in a pair of helpers as Dallas beat Chicago for the first time in four tries this season.

"We just wanted to get the job done tonight. It was all that was on our minds and we found a way to win," Benn noted.

Brandon Saad tallied twice and Patrick Kane once while Brent Seabrook assisted on two markers for the Blackhawks, who have lost three of their last four.

Corey Crawford surrendered five goals on 33 shots in the setback.

"We didn't commit ourselves to playing the right type of game," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "We played hard and we played well at times, where we sustained the pressure and controlled the play, but then we had lapses where we were giving up 2-on-1s."

Benn and Seguin set up Eakin for an easy score from the right side at the tail end of a power play which gave Dallas a 4-3 advantage with 2:58 played in the third.

The Stars were up by two after capitalizing on another odd-man rush, as Jason Spezza delayed long enough to slip a pass across for Cole's one-timer from the left wing at 10:59.

Lehtonen closed his pads to prevent a deflected Michal Rozsival point shot from slipping through with 4:03 to play, and Crawford was called to the bench inside the final two minutes.

The expected push by the hosts never occurred, and Horcoff put the clincher into the empty net with 60 seconds left.

"We're not happy about this," said Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville. "We need everybody to be more competitive."

Seguin put the visitors on the board at 6:33 of the first and Eakin finished off a 2-on-1 short-handed break with a hard wrister on the left wing to make it 2-0 at 10:49.

Chicago failed to click on the remainder of the advantage, but got a goal back with 7:38 left as Kane tapped in a Seabrook rebound. On a subsequent advantage, Saad popped home a Patrick Sharp rebound which grazed Seabrook for a 2-2 score with three minutes even on the clock.

Fiddler sent his club to intermission up 3-2 on yet another rebound conversion with 48.4 seconds showing.

Saad pushed home a Toews rebound at 7:13 of the second to tie the game once more.

"Lehtonen helped us out, so it was our turn to help him out and return the favor," Eakin said. "The game went back and forth. They started strong, we didn't ... and then we picked up our socks. The third period was good, which we needed."

Game Notes

The final meeting between the teams is set for March 21 in Dallas ... Saad has collected five goals in his last four games and recorded his second multi-goal effort of January ... The Blackhawks scratched forward Dan Carcillo, who is awaiting an in-person hearing with the NHL for a cross-check which broke the arm of Jets forward Mathieu Perreault ... Chicago completes its four-game residency on Tuesday against Arizona, while Dallas returns home Tuesday to take on Boston.