Blackhawks snap Stars’ long winning streak, 3-2

Connor Bedard, Andreas Athanasiou and Seth Jones scored second-period goals 4:03 apart and Petr Mrazek made 42 saves as the host Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday to halt Dallas' franchise-best eight-game winning streak.

The Stars (48-20-9) remained atop the Central Division, three points ahead of the idle Colorado Avalanche. The clubs are set to meet on Sunday night in Denver.

Outshot 44-17 on the afternoon, including 37-12 after two periods, the Blackhawks capitalized on their limited offensive chances to win for the second time in three games.

Chicago (23-48-5) opened the scoring at 4:48 of the second period, as Bedard tallied his team-leading 22nd goal. With the Blackhawks on the man advantage, Bedard snapped a seven-game goal drought when his wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the far post and into the net.

Athanasiou made it 2-0 just 1:05 later. Lukas Reichel split a pair of Stars defenders and fought additional contact before backhanding a drop pass for Athanasiou, who beat Dallas goaltender Scott Wedgewood for his first goal of the season.

The Blackhawks went ahead 3-0 minutes later at 8:51, as Jones gathered a cross-ice feed from Ryan Donato and scored from the left circle.

Roope Hintz scored his third goal in the past four games to end Mrazek's bid for a shutout, deflecting a Miro Heiskanen pass past the goaltender at 15:37 of the second period.

Dallas' Mavrik Bourque, who hit the post earlier in his NHL debut, had a potential third-period goal disallowed for goaltender interference. The Stars drew within a goal with 4:23 left, with Jamie Benn redirecting a Heiskanen shot for his 20th goal of the season.

Chicago killed a penalty moments later. The Stars finished 0-for-3 on the power play.

Wedgewood stopped 14 shots.

Tyler Seguin (lower-body injury) missed the game for the Stars.

Chicago salvaged a game from Dallas in the season series. The Stars won the first three matchups between the division foes by a combined score of 16-6, including one victory in overtime.

Dallas lost on the road for the first time since Feb. 27 at Colorado. Its last defeat overall came against New Jersey on March 14.