Nashville loses to Stars, 5-1, in Dallas

In Dallas, the Stars’ Roope Hintz hit for a double in a 5-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

“We’ve been playing really well these past two games,” Hintz said. “We don’t dump [the puck] now every time. Last year we dumped it a lot. I think it’s going to create more offense for us when we handle the pucks and make some plays there.”

Jake Oettinger made 29 saves in the Dallas win.

“In this room, the guys are starting to believe,” Stars forward Joe Pavelski said about new coach Peter DeBoer’s system. “We’re starting to understand what it takes and how we’re playing, and how we want to play and kind of the standard we want to set for the way we play.”

Nino Niederreiter was the lone striker for the Predators.

“Our commitment to defend and attention to detail is not where it needs to be,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “Our competitiveness, our work ethic, it’s not close to where it needs to be to win a hockey game.”

Jason Robertson potted a a goal and picked up three points in the win; Miro Heiskanen added a single marker and two points for Dallas.

“They’re electric,” DeBoer said about the top line of Hintz, Robertson, and Pavelski, which combined for three goals and five assists. “I’ve seen them before from the other bench. I like them a lot better standing where I was standing tonight. They showed up at a different level tonight.”

Mason Marchment added a late empty-net goal for the 5-1 final.

Nashville has lost two straight to Dallas after winning two games n the Global Series openers against the San Jose Sharks.

“I’m happy one went in, but at the end of the day, we weren’t good enough on the power play,” Niederreiter said. “We’ve got to find a way to be more tenacious and be better, and we’ve got to demand more from each other.”

Juuse Saros made 17 saves in the Nashville loss.

“We’re waiting, almost, for something to happen instead of dictating what our plan is and what our identity is,” Niederreiter said. “We did a great job back in Europe, and the last two games against Dallas we haven’t quite done what we’re supposed to do.”