Next Stop Chicago: After the Denver Shootout Split, Dallas Takes a .500 Record and a Thin Middle Six Into the United Center

By Nolan Frost, RF Sports Radio Stars voice

Stars Nation, the Denver road trip is in the books with two points and a split. Saturday night in Chicago is where a .500 team finds out if that shootout was a spark or just a coin flip.

The facts

The Dallas Stars visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m. Central / 7 p.m. Eastern at the United Center, per Stars schedule sources listing Prime Video / The Ticket and ESPN+ local windows. Dallas is 3-3-1 after beating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at Ball Arena, per NHL.com. Roope Hintz scored the shootout winner in the fourth round, Jason Robertson also scored in the shootout, Miro Heiskanen and Arttu Hyry (shorthanded) scored in regulation, and Casey DeSmith made 25 saves for the 100th win of his NHL career.

That win split the home-and-home after Colorado took Tuesday's game 3-2 at American Airlines Center. Matt Duchene remains out after surgery for a core injury and is expected to miss about three months; he has been on long-term injured reserve since Oct. 1, per NHL.com. Forward Oskar Back left Wednesday's game in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return; his Saturday status was not clarified in morning research.

RF Sports Radio's take (opinion)

My take: Chicago is not Colorado, and that is exactly why this game matters. Beating a heavyweight in a shootout feels great. Beating a rebuilding club with structure on a Saturday night tells you whether the habits stuck. DeSmith's 100th win bought the staff breathing room with the crease. The middle-six math is uglier. Duchene is months away. If Back is dinged on top of that, Pete DeBoer's depth chart gets creative in a hurry.

I liked the patience in Denver more than the shootout itself. Shorthanded juice from Hyry, a calm backup performance, and Hintz finishing a skills contest are fine October ingredients. The next test is whether Dallas can generate five-on-five offense without leaning on star power every night. A .500 record through seven is fine. A soft loss in Chicago would put the early-season narrative right back on the injury list.

My call: Stars win 4-2 in regulation, DeSmith or Oettinger gets the start with a clean night, and Dallas climbs above .500. That is a prediction, not a report. If Back is out and the bottom six goes quiet, this becomes a one-goal game that could tip either way late.

What to watch next

Puck drop is Saturday at 6 p.m. Central. Watch for a Back update, the goalie decision after DeSmith's milestone, and how Dallas fills Duchene's minutes. For yesterday's Denver shootout column, read yesterday's Stars post on Hintz ending it in round four in Denver, and follow the Dallas Stars page.

Radio question: was Wednesday's shootout win the turn for this Stars season, or do you need a regulation win in Chicago before you believe it?

Sources: NHL.com — Stars vs. Avalanche recap, Oct. 14, 2026; NHL.com — Matt Duchene has surgery, will be out 3 months; SwipeSports — Dallas Stars schedule 2026.