Going into Thursday nightβs matchup with the Blackhawks in Chicago, Stars forward Patrick Eaves had four goals in 34 games.
Then he went out and netted three in the first period against the Blackhawks, in what would turn out to be a huge 4-2 win, and a measure of revenge after the Blackhawks slapped the Stars around 5-1 at the American Airlines Center last Saturday night.
It was just the third time a Star had completed a hat trick in a single period since the team moved to Dallas, the other instances coming in 2007 (Jussi Jokinen) and 2013 (Tyler Seguin).
βIt was just nice to get a good start,β Eaves told the teamβs official website. βWe got spanked on Saturday, so that was still fresh in our mouth. We didnβt play anywhere where we thought we should. We played more of our game tonight.β