With two goals and two assists during Dallas' 4-1 rout of the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday in Denver, Stars veteran Joe Pavelski notched a single-season career high with his fourth game of at least four points.
The surge snapped his season-high, six-game point drought and vaulted Pavelski into a tie with Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl for the most four-point games this season.
Pavelski, 37, is averaging better than a point per game entering the Stars' Friday visit to the Chicago Blackhawks. His teammates find that witnessing the resurgence -- attributable, in part, to Pavelski's diligence -- never gets old.
"Having a guy of such caliber and experience, for a guy like me to look up and see him at 37 years old as the first guy on the ice at practice doing all the little things and working on his craft, it's definitely inspiring," linemate Jason Robertson said. "Even just talking to him throughout the game, listening to what he says and learning what he's been doing, it's nice to see he's still doing all the little things at his age."
Pavelski surpassed 20 goals on the season with the multi-goal effort at Colorado, a benchmark he has reached in 12 of his 16 NHL seasons. Pavelski also became the third player in franchise history to net 20 goals at age 37 or older. The others were Dean Prentice, who accomplished the feat in 1971-72 and 1972-73, and Mike Modano, who did it in 2007-08.
Dallas' Tyler Seguin added a goal and two assists at Colorado, giving him eight points in his past six games. Jake Oettinger stopped a career-high 46 shots as the Stars stretched their road winning streak to five games while snapping Colorado's 19-game point streak.
"I think it was the best performance I've ever seen from (Oettinger)," Robertson said. "Spectacular. It's great to see all his hard work pay off. He really was the key in getting us the win."
Chicago opened a six-game homestand on Thursday with a 7-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Alex DeBrincat scored his club-leading 29th goal for the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane had an assist, the 719th of his career, tying him with Denis Savard for second in team history. Stan Mikita holds the record at 926.
The Blackhawks have lost five straight home games and five of seven overall.
"You're coming into a six-game homestand, and the first game, you feel, is against a team you should beat, and it stings a little bit right now," Kane said postgame. "So we're going to have to make that game up by beating a good team somewhere. Maybe that's (Friday) night against Dallas. Obviously a pretty good team there, so it would be nice to come back (Friday)."
Dallas defeated visiting Chicago 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 18 in the teams' first meeting this season. Jon Klingberg scored the game-winner, while Pavelski had two goals and two assists.
Kane had an assist for the Blackhawks. He has 70 points (30 goals, 40 assists) in 60 career games against Dallas. Dominik Kubalik enters with a six-game point streak against the Stars.
--Field Level Media