In Dallas, the Minnesota Wild threatened to gt back into their game with the Stars on Wednesday night when they trimmed a 4-1 deficit down to 4-3 in the middle frame.
Dallas replied with goals form Evgenii Dadonov and Roope Hintz in a 48 second span to erase the rally and send the game to the third period with Dallas ahead, 6-3.
Dadonov hit for a double in the Dallas win, Hintz scored a hat trick for the Stars, who evened the first round series at 1-1 in a 7-3 final.
Hintz’s hat trick was scored off an even strength, shorthanded, and power play goal set.
“[Hintz] is elite and he’s capable of taking over games like that, and we needed him,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “Our team with what happened with [Joe Pavelski] the other night (concussion protocol), 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.”
Game 3 is in St Paul on Friday.
Hintz finished his ha t trick in the third period.
Jake Oettinger made 23 saves in the win.
Hintz picked up his first of the game early in the opening stanza to give the Stars a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded breakaway, Tyler Seguin pushed the lead to 2-0 at 11:20 off a power play strike.
“It was way better start than last game (outshot 10-5 in the first),” Hintz said. “That’s how we have to start here at home especially. And when we go on the road, we have to play there like we used to play there in the regular season.”
The Wild cut the deficit in half on a goal from Oskar Sundqvist for a 2-1 score, but Jamie Benn hit for another power play goal in the second period for a 3-1 advantage.
Dadonov hit for his first of the game at 5:34 of the second for a 4-1 lead.
“They had a short-handed breakaway and two power-play goals. What would you like ‘Flower’ to do, right?” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “He made some incredible saves for us. We just spoke of all the odd-man rushes that we gave up. Another one was a breakaway, another one was a power play. That’s what, five?
“We gave them their opportunities. They took them too. They played really well, but we didn’t do the right things in front of our goaltender tonight.”
Minnesota rallied on goals, 11 seconds apart, from Marcus Johansson and Frederick Gaudreau to get the Wild within 4-3.
“We knew they weren’t going to quit,” said Benn. “It’s tough to give up two like that, but we stuck with it and bounced right back.”
Dallas was 3-for-6 on the power play.
“I mean, we don’t want to (take penalties),” Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton said. “When you look at us 5-on-5, we’re playing really well. It’s kind of been unfortunate we’ve put ourselves in these situations through the first two games. But it’s something we have to work on. If we play 5-on-5, I think we all know we’re the better team in that aspect of the game.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the loss.
“Embarrassing on my part, giving up seven goals like that in the playoffs,” Fleury said. “I want to come in and give a chance to my team to stay in the game and win, and that’s not what I did. Gave up too many goals. I think we had to open up, try to come back in the game, [but] we gave up more chances. Bottom line, I didn’t make any key saves in the game.”
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