Stars shake up top of Central with rout of Blackhawks: 3 things to know

The Dallas Stars ^[1] were missing three of their regular defensemen, including top blueliner John Klingberg ^[2], a top-six forward in Patrick Sharp ^[3] and had the first place team in their division lining up across the ice from them. They did, however, still have Tyler Seguin ^[4], Jamie Benn ^[5] and Jason Spezza ^[6] and that was more than enough as Dallas earned a huge win in a tight race for a division title.

The Stars trounced the Chicago Blackhawks ^[7], 5-2, Friday night to reclaim first place in the Central Division, pulling a point ahead of the St. Louis Blues ^[8] who also won Friday. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, went from first to third as all three of the top Central Division teams have 13 games remaining in the regular season. Things are going to be interesting.

What makes the win so impressive for the Stars is that they were so severely depleted while Chicago had gotten healthy. They had Marian Hossa back after a lengthy absence to form Chicago's new top line with Andrew Ladd ^[9] and Jonathan Toews ^[10], their Vezina candidate goalie Corey Crawford ^[11] started the game, they have the league's leading scorer and top rookie, and none of that mattered a bit because Dallas came to play.

After winning just three of their last 10 games and injuries piling, you can't help but marvel at the way Dallas played.

Here's three things to know about their big win over the Blackhawks:

The Stars' best players made a big impact against Chicago. (USATSI)

1. The Stars got great performances from their best forwards

It's no secret that Dallas has relied heavily on its offensive game to get them through the season. They score at a high enough clip where they can hide some warts. But there weren't many warts on display Friday night.

The makeshift defense that Stars had to use for the game while missing Klingberg, Jason Demers ^[12] and Jordie Benn ^[13], worked just fine. Kari Lehtonen ^[14] stood tall in net, while facing a manageable 23 shots. And then that typical scoring was there.

Spezza opened things up by scoring a goal for the fourth consecutive game. He's undersold on this roster with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin getting a lot of the attention, but Spezza now has 52 points including 26 goals. He at least has a shot at his first 30-goal season since 2011-12. Additionally, he added an assist Friday night to achieve the 800-point milestone in his career.

After Antoine Roussel ^[15] scored early in the second period to extend the lead, Seguin added another insurance goal, helping him break a six-game drought without a goal and five-game span without a point. The goal was his team-leading (at the time) 33rd goal of the season. He also added an assist in the game to give him 70 points on the season. Over his three seasons in Dallas he has 231 points in 219 games. Think he likes playing in Dallas?

This is still Benn's team, though, and the captain had a huge game. He logged 22:19 of ice time, trailing only top defensemen Kris Russell ^[16], who had a good night while logging 27-plus minutes, and Johnny Oduya ^[17]. Benn also scored his 33rd goal of the seasonw hile giving the Stars a 4-0 lead and pretty much took the wind out of Chicago's sails. He also had the assist on Spezza's goal, whi ch now gives him 75 points on the year, good for second in the league.

This was a team win for the Stars, but does it ever help to have a trio of individuals that reliably produce like Benn, Seguin and Spezza.

2. The Blackhawks' penalty kill has been especially poor in recent weeks

The Stars scored on two of their six power plays against the Blackhawks, but it seems like everyone's been scoring on the power play against Chicago lately.

The Blackhawks have ceded power-play goals against in 12 of their last 15 games. Over that span, Chicago has allowed 18 goals while killing only 65.3 percent of the power players they are allowing. They've dropped to 25th in the league on the penalty kill for the season with a 78.2 percent success rate.

If there's one area the defending champs need to clean up, the PK has to be right near the top of the list. The good news for the Blackhawks is that they still have the top power play in the league to counterbalance it. That didn't help them much Friday, though.

3. The Stars got an extremely challenging stretch of their schedule started on the right foot

Friday night's game was the Stars' opener of a five-game homestand over which they will exclusively play teams currently in playoff position. In fact, of the next 13 games the Stars play, only two are against teams currently outside of the playoff picture. Getting a win over a close divisional foe to start this off was huge considering what's ahead.

Saturday night they'll have to defend first place in the Central against the St. Louis Blues. Three days later they get the Los Angeles Kings ^[18], then the Tampa Bay Lightning ^[19] and the New York Islanders ^[20]. By the time the home stand ends, they go on the road to play the Blackhawks again.

That's a tough stretch for any team, but that's the schedule the Stars face while trying to land first place in a division where the incentive to win the top seed couldn't be higher. If the standings were to remain the way they are right now at the end of the season, the Blues and Blackhawks will have to duke it out in the first round, while the Stars would get a more favorable matchup against the Colorado Avalanche ^[21]. That's not to say that the Avs are a pushover, because they're not, but they're also not as loaded as the other top two teams.

Friday night's victory, amid all the surrounding circumstances, probably couldn't have been bigger for the Stars.