Dallas Stars Even Series With Minnesota Wild On Roope Hintz Hat Trick

DALLAS -- — Roope Hintz had a goal in each period, getting his first career hat trick by scoring three different ways, as the Dallas Stars stepped up without Joe Pavelski to get even in their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild.

“He's elite and capable of taking over games like that. And we needed him,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “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, while captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin both had power-play goals. Miro Heiskanen, their high-scoring defenseman, had four assists, while 100-point scorer Jason Robertson had two. Hintz also had an assist.

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The Dallas scoring onslaught came against three-time Stanley Cup champion goalie Marc-André Fleury, who got the start even after 24-year-old Filip Gustavsson made his playoff debut with a franchise-record 51 saves in the series opener the Wild won 3-2 in double overtime.

"It's what we do, right? We've done it all year," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said of the goalies who have split games most 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?"

The 38-year-old Fleury had 24 saves in his 168th career playoff game. He had been 8-3-1 over his final 12 starts of the regular season.

“Embarrassing on my part, you know. Giving up seven goals like that in the playoffs,” Fleury said. "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.”

Game 3 is Friday night in Minnesota.