DALLAS — Roope Hintz had a aim in every interval, getting his first profession hat trick by scoring three alternative ways, because the Dallas Stars stepped up with out Joe Pavelski to get even of their first-round sequence in opposition to the Minnesota Wild.
Hintz scored short-handed on Dallas’ first shot in Game 2, added a even-strength aim within the second interval after which completed with a power-play aim within the third interval of the Stars’ 7-3 win over the Wild on Wednesday night time.
“He’s elite and he’s capable of taking over games like that. And we needed him,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer stated. “Our team, with what happened with Pavelski the other night, a little bit rattled, we needed our best players to step up tonight and make a statement. And they did. Every one of them, not just Roope.”
Evgenii Dadonov scored twice for the Stars, whereas captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin each had power-play objectives. Miro Heiskanen, their high-scoring defenseman, had 4 assists, whereas 100-point scorer Jason Robertson had two. Hintz additionally had an help.
The Dallas scoring onslaught got here in opposition to three-time Stanley Cup champion goalie Marc-André Fleury, who acquired the beginning even after 24-year-old Filip Gustavsson made his playoff debut with a franchise-record 51 saves within the sequence opener the Wild gained 3-2 in double additional time.
“It’s what we do, right? We’ve done it all year,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason stated of the goalies who’ve break up video games many of the season. “Nothing was on Fleury tonight, it was all on us. … They had a short-handed breakaway and two power-play goals. What would you like Fleury to do?”
PHOTOS: Hintz hat trick as Stars get even with 7-3 win over Wild
Game 3 is Friday night time in Minnesota.
The Stars by no means trailed after Hintz’s breakaway short-hander simply 4 1/2 minutes into the sport, after Joel Kiviranta’s takeaway within the defensive finish. Dallas led 2-0 halfway by way of the primary interval when Seguin, in entrance of Fleury, redirected a protracted one-timer by Robertson throughout an prolonged energy play.
“When you lose a player like Joe, it’s a great opportunity for other guys to step up, and I thought we did that as a group here from top to bottom,” Benn stated.
Seguin began on the highest line alongside Robertson and Hintz with Pavelski in concussion protocol after banging his head on the ice following a crushing blow from Matt Dumba within the second interval of the sequence opener. Dumba was booed nearly each time he touched the puck Wednesday.
Dadonov and Hintz every scored their second objectives of the sport in a 48-second span late within the second interval for a 6-3 lead. That was the final of three pairs of quick-scoring objectives in that center interval – two by the Stars that sandwiched an even-quicker scoring duo by the Wild.
Benn had his aim and an help on Dadonov’s first rating in an 87-second span that put the Stars up 4-1 and ignite the six-goal center interval.
Minnesota’s two objectives in fast succession had been Marcus Johansson’s brief backhander on an influence play, 11 seconds earlier than Frederick Gaudreau had an identical shot previous Jake Oettinger to get the Wild inside one.
Oettinger, the 24-year-old who wears No. 29 after rising up a fan of Fleury, stopped 23 photographs.
The 38-year-old Fleury had 24 saves in his 168th profession playoff sport. He had been 8-3-1 over his remaining 12 begins of the common season.
“Embarrassing on my part, you know. Giving up seven goals like that in the playoffs,” Fleury stated. “I want to come in and give a chance to my team in the game and win, and that’s not what I did. … Bottom line, I didn’t make any key saves in the game.”
DOUBLE TIME
Seguin’s power-play aim got here 3 1/2 minutes after Jake Middleton acquired a double minor for a excessive stick in opposition to Max Domi, who acquired up with blood on his nostril. Fleury withstood being peppered by 4 photographs within the first two minutes of that energy play, with Hintz getting two of these.
ALL DIFFERENT WAYS
Hintz, who has 4 objectives on this sequence, is the primary participant with a short-handed, power-play and even-strength aim in a playoff sport since Tyler Johnson did it for Tampa Bay in opposition to the New York Rangers in 2015.
EARLY EXITS
There had been six 10-minute misconduct penalties points within the sport’s final 5 1/2 minutes. Domi and Kaprizov acquired despatched off first after their battle. Marcus Foligno, Brandon Duhaime and Ryan Reaves later left the ice early for the Wild, and Benn acquired a misconduct penalty within the remaining minute.
“That’s playoff hockey, a lot of emotions,” Evason stated.
UP NEXT
After Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday in Minnesota, the sequence will return to Dallas for Game 5 on Tuesday night time.
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