Stars 3, Avalanche 2 (SO): Hintz wins it in the fourth round in Denver
Dallas took the back half of the home-and-home with a shootout goal from Roope Hintz after Colorado forced overtime with Brock Nelson's third-period equalizer.
The Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout at Ball Arena on Wednesday, taking the second game of a two-night series after Colorado won the first.
How it went
Colorado opened the scoring in the second period when Gabriel Landeskog tipped a Nazem Kadri shot past the Dallas goalie at 4:55. Miro Heiskanen tied it at 15:03 of the same period with a wrist shot, with Mikko Rantanen assisting, according to NHL.com.
Dallas then took the lead early in the third. Arttu Hyry scored short-handed at 1:20 to make it 2-1. Colorado levelled at 8:21 when Brock Nelson scored, the play beginning with a shot from Artturi Lehkonen. Neither side found a winner in the rest of regulation or overtime, and the game went to a shootout.
The shootout
Roope Hintz scored the deciding goal in the fourth round for Dallas, and Jason Robertson also scored for the Stars. Kadri scored for Colorado. NHL.com's recap does not give the full round-by-round breakdown.
In goal, Casey DeSmith made 25 saves for Dallas and earned the 100th win of his career. Scott Wedgewood made 20 saves for Colorado.
Milestones and absences
Heiskanen's goal was the 70th of his career and moved him past Daryl Sydor into sixth place on the Stars' list for goals by a defenseman. Landeskog's opener was the 90th time he has factored in a game's first goal, per the recap.
Cale Makar, who had missed Tuesday's game, was back in the Colorado lineup and played 22 minutes and 54 seconds with two shots and a plus-1 rating. Colorado forward Nicolas Roy sat out with an upper-body injury and is day to day, coach Jared Bednar said. Dallas lost Oskar Back in the first period to an upper-body injury, and coach Glen Gulutzan did not offer an update.
What it means
The point is a two-game split, but not an even one. Tuesday's game went Colorado's way 3-2, and Wednesday's went Dallas's way by the same score and one extra round. After the game the Stars are 3-3-1, which snapped a skid in which they had lost two straight games, while the Avalanche are 4-2-1.
In a season only a handful of games old, those records mean little by themselves. What matters is the pattern: two teams separated by a single goal in each meeting and a short-handed goal that helped Dallas get ahead. Both teams will watch the injury reports on Back and Roy before their next games.