Denis Savard made it clear this week that the Chicago Blackhawks would have to "score more than one or two goals to be able to win."

That wasn't the case Wednesday.

Blackhawks coach Denis Savard yells instructions to his team during the second period.
(Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)

Tuomo Ruutu snapped a 1-1 tie with less than two minutes left in regulation to lead Chicago to a 2-1 win over the visiting Dallas Stars in Savard's debut as Blackhawks coach.

"I told our guys after the game it's not about me," Savard said. "I know they're happy for me, but they beat a great team."

A Hall of Fame player whose No. 18 hangs from the United Center rafters, Savard took over from the fired Trent Yawney on Monday.

"I know that I can turn this around," Savard said upon accepting his new role after serving as an assistant coach with Chicago since 1997. "We're going to create a lot more, offensively, with the [aggressive forechecking] system we're going to use."

The Blackhawks did enough Wednesday to halt a three-game losing skid and deal Dallas a second straight defeat.

Ruutu notched his first game-winning goal of the season and his fourth overall in the last five games to help Chicago to its first win over the Stars since Jan. 20, 2002.

"[Ruutu's] a horse," said Savard, who owns racehorses. "He's not as good as my horse, but he's good enough."

After stripping Stars centre Mike Modano of the puck at the Chicago blue-line, Ruutu broke down the wing and wristed a shot through the legs of goaltender Marty Turco with 1:48 left on the clock.

Modano said he thought he had been hooked and was expecting the whistle to be blown.

"I kind of let up a bit," Modano said. "Any stick to the hands or across the hips is usually a call. If I knew there wasn't going to be a call, I would've gotten rid of the puck quick."

Tony Salmelainen also scored for the Blackhawks, who improved to 8-12-2 on the season and 5-5-0 on home ice.

The pace was plodding and the opportunities on offence scarce until the third period.

After Jere Lehtinen gave Dallas a 1-0 lead in the first period, Salmelainen scored the equalizer midway through the third when his stick knicked a shot from the left point by defenceman Duncan Keith.

Turco made 26 saves but fell to 11-1-1 in his career against the Blackhawks.

Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 20 of 21 shots in the Chicago net for his sixth victory of the season.

With files from the Associated Press