Ryan Hartman scored a goal in the Blackhawks' 5-3 victory over the Stars on Saturday, but that wasn't his biggest play of the night.

With less than two minutes remaining, the Stars had an extra attacker while the Hawks clung to a one-goal lead. Stars winger Jamie Benn was skating down the left circle and was squaring up a rebound shot at a wide open net. Corey Crawford had just stopped a shot on the opposite side and was not going to make it over in time to stop Benn.

Enter Hartman, who gave his best pitch to have a superhero comic book series named for him.

Hartman dove in desperation and knocked the puck away just as it was arriving at Benn's stick to prevent the Hawks from blowing their second third-period lead of the night and preserving a victory.

"Just try to get a stick on it and push it out to the corner," Hartman said. "I was lucky enough to get a stick on it."

Hartman, who didn't receive credit for a block on the official score sheet, was being modest. Niklas Hjalmarsson, who knows a thing or two about blocking shots, recognized the play for the game saver it was.

"I was screaming at him on the bench," Hjalmarsson said. "That would have been a goal otherwise. That was a key, key save. It would have been a tap in."

Added coach Joel Quenneville, who isn't prone to hyperbole: "Oh, what a play. Diving poke. It was a good anticipation. Thought he had a real good game."

Hartman's second-period goal and block helped the Hawks shake off a recent problem of losing games in regulation after entering the third period with a lead. Twice before the All-Star break it happened after the Hawks had been perfect in securing at least a point in those situations since the start of the 2014-15 season.

The Hawks entered the third with a 2-1 lead but quickly lost it when Benn scored just 40 seconds in on a backhander that beat Crawford, who ended up winning his 202nd game and moving past Ed Belfour for third on the Hawks' all-time win list behind Tony Esposito (418) and Glenn Hall (275).

Joel Quenneville on Blackhawks' 5-3 win over Stars

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville reacts to the team's 5-3 win over the Stars on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (Chris Hine/Chicago Tribune)

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville reacts to the team's 5-3 win over the Stars on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. (Chris Hine/Chicago Tribune)

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Then Tyler Seguin gave the Stars a 3-2 lead at 9:24 and doubt began to creep in for the Hawks.

"It did a little bit, to be honest with you," Hjalmarsson said. "It has been a pattern the last four or five games but, yeah, we managed to find a way to get back and get two points."

That came thanks to two goals — the tying tally from Patrick Kane, the winner from Trevor van Riemsdyk.

Kane put a nifty backhand shot past Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen at 9:59, a play Quenneville said was "extremely amazing" while van Riemsdyk followed up a play in which Artem Anisimov crashed the net. Van Riemsdyk poked the puck past Lehtonen for his second goal of the season at 15:57.

"Every game we've been in, basically all year, has been on the line from start to finish," Quenneville said. "We always talk about getting those points, especially playing from behind when we had the lead and knowing January wasn't so good for us playing in those situations."

Everything worked out fine in the end for the Hawks on Saturday, but not before one big heart-stopping moment in which Hartman rose to the occasion.

chine@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ChristopherHine

Chris Hine's three stars

1. Ryan Hartman, Blackhawks: Scored a goal and had a key blocked shot.

2. Artem Anisimov, Blackhawks: Set up tying and winning goals.

3. Patrick Kane, Blackhawks: Scored on a pretty backhanded play.

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