DALLAS — Mason Marchment had three goals as the Dallas Stars routed the Chicago Blackhawks 8-1 to complete a two-game set.
Tyler Seguin had a goal and two assists and Roope Hintz, Ryan Suter, Craig Smith and Sam Steel also scored, AP reported.
The Stars, one point out of first place in the Central Division, matched a season high in goals in their sixth consecutive home victory, two nights after topping Chicago 5-4 in overtime at American Airlines Center after trailing 2-0.
Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves to improve to 11-2-2. He made his seventh consecutive start since Jake Oettinger went down with a lower-body injury early in Dallas´ game Dec. 15.
Marchment´s first goal came on the power play midway through the second period for a 5-0 lead. He scored at 14:29 of the third and completed his first hat trick of the season with 1:02 to play on a goal that caromed off the leg of Chicago´s Jarred Tinordi.
“It´s happening all around the league. Teams are coming back. That was something we said going out in the third that we want to keep the foot on the pedal,” said Marchment, whose only previous NHL hat trick came in February 2022 for Florida. “And I thought we did a great job.”
Smith, Suter and Seguin scored in the first period´s final nine minutes as Dallas, which went into play ranked 25th in the NHL with a minus-7 scoring differential in the opening period, matched its season high for first-period goals.
“The main thing that we wanted to fix from the previous night was not to get in a hole and chase the game,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “That first period kind of set the tone for the rest of the night.”
Philipp Kurashev scored for the Blackhawks. They have lost 11 consecutive road games (0-10-1) and have the second-fewest points in the NHL at 24.
Connor Bedard, Chicago´s 18-year-old star, assisted on the power-play goal 39 seconds into the third period for his rookie-leading 33rd point.
Petr Mrazek allowed six goals on 32 shots. He was replaced almost five minutes into the third period by Arvid Soderblom, who gave up two goals on 10 shots.
“My only hope from a game like today is we just finally hammer it through our thick heads of how we´re going to need to play,” said Nick Foligno, a veteran on a young Chicago roster. “And that is not it. It´s just not who we are. That´s not a winning team. That´s just a team hoping.”
Elsewhere, Valeri Nichushkin scored a tiebreaking goal late in the third period and the Colorado Avalanche beat the slumping San Jose Sharks 3-1.
Nichushkin also had an assist, Mikko Rantanen scored and Nathan MacKinnon had two assists for Colorado.
The game appeared headed to overtime when the Avalanche got a delayed penalty. With an extra attacker on, Jack Johnson fed Nichushkin for a one-timer at 16:31 of the third. It was his 17th goal of the season.
Alexandar Georgiev faced just 11 shots in his 19th win while Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen made 30 saves. Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose, which has lost eight straight games – all in regulation.
The Avalanche are 7-2-1 since dropping five of six in early December. They could easily be riding a five-game winning streak, but they blew a 4-0 lead at Phoenix and lost in overtime Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves, Lars Eller scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-1.
Nedeljkovic was spectacular at times to help the Penguins win for the fifth time in six games following a blowout loss to Toronto on Dec. 16.
Eller scored early in the first period and added an empty-netter in the final minute as Pittsburgh beat the Islanders for the second time in five days. Noel Acciari added his third of the season for Pittsburgh.
Samuel Bolduc drew the Islanders within one with 6:09 left with the third goal of his career, but New York could get no closer. Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves.
Pittsburgh has at least a point in each of its last six games and is 7-1-1 over its last nine to climb into wild-card contention as the season´s midway point nears following an iffy start.