Richards star of Stars as Hawks fall

DALLAS -- No wonder Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon went so hard after Brad Richards at the trade deadline.

No wonder the former Tampa Bay star chose to go to Dallas instead.

The already rock-solid Stars just got that much better with the addition of the 6-foot, 192-pound center.

And their first victims in the Richards era were a worn-out bunch of Blackhawks, who could do little to prevent the Stars from putting on a clinic in a 7-4 thumping Thursday night before an announced sellout crowd at American Airlines Center.

Sure, Niklas Hagman picked up his first career hat trick for Dallas, but this night belonged to the new guy, the one who on his second shift as a Star hit a fast-closing Hagman at the side of the net for an easy goal.

It proved to be an omen for Richards, who finished the night with a career-high 5 assists to help the Stars (41-22-5) move within 3 points of Detroit in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference.

"Hopefully I didn't do too much and expectations aren't too high," Richards said with a laugh. "It was one of those nights. … I'm just so happy to be a part of this. We've got a good thing going."

Though many Hawks fans had hoped that Richards might be wearing the red sweater Thursday instead of the Stars' green, Richards said that was never really a possibility.

"This was probably the only team I would've went to," he said. "I didn't see a point of leaving my teammates in the middle of the season to go to a non-playoff team. No disrespect to Chicago; they've got a good up-and-coming team."

But a team that was nowhere near good enough against Richards and Co.

"He's a world-class player," Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook said. "We made a lot of mental mistakes, and they capitalized on it. It seemed like every chance, every rush they had, they put it in the back of the net.

"We've got to get more focused, get more prepared."

Things actually got off to a good start for the Hawks (30-28-6) when Dustin Byfuglien used his size to open the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:08 of the first period. Big D battled Stars goalie Marty Turco for the puck behind the net and then positioned himself out front, where he knocked in the rebound of a Jason Williams shot.

But over the next 30 or so minutes, the Stars were the Globetrotters and the Hawks the Generals. The ultimate victim of all Dallas' offensive wizardry was Hawks goalie Patrick Lalime, who was replaced in the second period after Dallas' fifth goal.

"We just have to look at this as a loss is a loss and move on," Lalime said diplomatically.

"We made too many mistakes," Hawks coach Denis Savard said, "and against a team like Dallas, with the offensive power they have, it's going to end up in the back of the net."

Rene Bourque scored on a breakaway early in the third. The short-hander was his seventh of the season. He added a goal in the final minutes to finish the scoring.

Newly arrived Andrew Ladd picked up his first goal as a Blackhawk when he snapped one past Turco midway through the third for his 10th goal of the season.

"We battled, played against a great team, now we move on," Savard said.