In Nashville, Roope Hintz’s second goal of the game came with 53 seconds left in the third period to give the visiting Dallas Stars a 3-2 win over the Predators on Tuesday night.
“We were trying to get a forecheck in,” Hintz said. “Then we get the puck back, and it kind of bounced a little bit. It was bouncing there, and then [Jamie Benn] got me backdoor.”
Jake Oettinger made 31 saves in the Dallas win.
The Stars improved to 21-9-6.
“I loved our first. I thought we played great coming out of the break, traveling this morning,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought we had a great first. I thought in the second we gave the game back a little bit, more with puck decisions than anything. I thought we recovered and reset and got our game back in the third the way we want to play.”
Jamie Benn scored his 14th of the season in the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we were a little flat in the first. But I thought we came out better in the second,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “Third period was kind of back and forth, some chances on both sides. We’ve just got to be better at the end. We gave up a goal that late, it’s tough.”
Nashville dropped to 14-14-5.
“I think the urgency is always there,” Nashville coach John Hynes said. “The season continues to get shorter and shorter. So, finding ways to rebound, play well and get to your game, and find more consistency in our game is what’s going to be the difference [in making the playoffs].”
The Predators scored twice in the middle frame on strikes by Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin, the goals bookending Hintz’s first goal of the game form a 2-2 tie after two periods.
“We try to play the whole 60 minutes like we played the first half,” Hintz said. “Try to keep playing an offensive game. I think sometimes we try to play too much [defense] and we lose the flow.”
Dallas improved to
“I loved our first. I thought we played great coming out of the break, traveling this morning,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought we had a great first. I thought in the second we gave the game back a little bit, more with puck decisions than anything. I thought we recovered and reset and got our game back in the third the way we want to play.”
Juuse Saros made 25 saves in the Nashville loss.
“I think we’ve been talking a lot about the offense and then just playing fast. I feel like the last couple of games we’ve done that,” Josi said. “We’re getting in our zone more, we’re creating some more chances. It’s a tough loss, but I think we’ve got to just keep building our game and move on.”
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