Hawks blow back to back series against (rising) Stars

The good: Rookie Derek Stepan scored his first NFHL-goal with the first (registered) shot in his first NHL game. And the Blackhawks came back from a two nothing deficit to score the equalizer 26 seconds before the final buzzer (Rick Nash).

The bad: The Blackhawks still lost the game – without putting the puck past Tim Thomas in the shut out.

The ugly: The Blackhawks lost the second consecutive game and their home opener to the Stars as well, giving away a three nothing lead five minutes into the second period. The game winner for the Stars came at 18:37 of the last period with Blackhawks new captain Dustin Brown sitting in the penalty box.

The surprising: Breaking with former tradition of incoming veteran leadership (Rod Brind’Amour, Chris Drury) serving as team captain, new head coach Mike Babcock announced the new captaincy of young and homegrown players: Dustin Brown, originally drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes but having played 404 of his 412 NFHL games for the Blackhawks, will wear the “C” on his chest. The two highest drafted defenders in Blackhawks history, Marc Staal and Ryan Suter, will serve as alternates.