Kane, Blackhawks look to stay hot against visiting Stars

Patrick Kane will try to increase his point streak to 21 games when the Chicago Blackhawks host the Dallas Stars on Sunday afternoon.

The eight-time All-Star has notched at least one point in each of his past 20 games, which is the longest streak in the NHL since Kane enjoyed a 26-game point streak during the 2015-16 season. He is only one of seven players in league history with multiple 20-game point streaks, joining legends Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Guy LaFleur, Mario Lemieux, Adam Oates and Steve Yzerman.

"He's been great," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton recently told reporters. "No doubt about that. He's at times carried us on his back. ...

"These guys who have been around, (as) we get to playing some important games now, they know what it's like. They love it. They're hungry. They want more. They want more team success, and I expect their level is going to rise even more."

That has proved to be good news for Chicago (26-27-9), which has won 10 of its past 13 contests to reassert itself in the postseason race. Offense has been key to the Blackhawks' surge as the team has averaged a whopping 4.77 goals in those 13 games.

A difficult test awaits from Dallas (30-26-5), which sits four points in front of Chicago in the Western Conference. The Stars are coming off a disappointing 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon and are eager for success after losing six of their past eight games.

The Stars will welcome a new acquisition in defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who is expected to join the team in Chicago one day after he was acquired from the New Jersey Devils. The 35-year-old has seven points (two goals, five assists) in 51 games this season.

"Ben is a top-end penalty-killing defenseman and he brings a good mix of both physicality and mobility to our back end," Stars general manager Jim Nill said in comments published on the team's official website.

Tyler Seguin leads the Stars with 57 points (26 goals, 31 assists) in 61 games. Jamie Benn also has topped the 20-goal milestone with 41 points (21 goals, 20 assists) in 60 contests.

Kane leads the Blackhawks with 93 points (39 goals, 54 assists) in 61 games. Jonathan Toews is second on the scoring list with 63 points (28 goals, 35 assists) in 62 games, while Alex DeBrincat is not far behind with 62 points (34 goals, 28 assists) in 62 games.

Kane and his teammates expect their home fans to be loud from the opening faceoff.

"I'm sure the crowd will be into it again," Kane said. "It will be a playoff-type atmosphere."

The Blackhawks are coming off a 5-3 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night and will attempt to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since mid-January.

The Blackhawks erased one-goal deficits three times against the Avalanche and threatened to force overtime in the final couple minutes before an empty-net goal sealed the outcome.

"That's the thing I like about this group and our team," Kane said. "No matter what the score, no matter how we start or what happened in the middle of the game or anything like that, we're always in the game. There's always a chance to turn the thing around."

This is the second of four regular-season meetings between the teams. Chicago won the first matchup 5-2 on Dec. 20 in Dallas.

--Field Level Media