Roope Hintz ended a tense Colorado rematch in the fourth round of the shootout, lifting the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday. Dallas answered a home loss to Colorado one night earlier by collecting its first victory in three games.
Key takeaways
- Hintz scored the deciding shootout goal after Jason Robertson converted for Dallas and Nazem Kadri answered for Colorado.
- Miro Heiskanen and Arttu Hyry supplied the Stars’ regulation scoring, while Casey DeSmith stopped 25 shots.
- Gabriel Landeskog and Brock Nelson scored for the Avalanche, with Scott Wedgewood making 20 saves.
- Hyry’s third-period breakaway was a short-handed goal and briefly gave Dallas the lead.
- Colorado played without Nicolas Roy, and Dallas lost Oskar Back to an upper-body injury during the first period.
Hyry turns the game before Colorado answers
The Avalanche had two apparent first-period goals erased before Landeskog finally broke through at 4:55 of the second. Kadri fired from the left circle, and Landeskog cut through the crease unattended to redirect the shot beyond DeSmith for a 1-0 Colorado lead.
Dallas pulled even late in the period. Heiskanen took a feed from Rantanen and snapped a shot from the left dot over Wedgewood’s right shoulder at 15:03.
Hyry gave the Stars their first lead just 1:20 into the third while Dallas was killing a penalty. He picked off a Cale Makar play near the Dallas blue line, pulled away on the rush and finished with a forehand-to-backhand move past Wedgewood’s glove.
Colorado tied it at 8:21. Artturi Lehkonen’s shot bounced off Stars defenseman Thomas Harley in front, leaving Nelson the loose puck on the left side. Nelson sent it around DeSmith’s right leg and into the open side of the net.
Stars hold on in the skills finish
Neither side found another goal in overtime, sending the clubs to the shootout after consecutive 3-2 games. Robertson scored for Dallas, Kadri kept Colorado alive, and Hintz delivered the winner in the fourth round.
DeSmith finished with 25 saves for the Stars, now 3-3-1 after having entered the night on a 0-1-1 skid. Wedgewood turned aside 20 shots for Colorado, which moved to 4-2-1 despite the loss.
Makar returned after missing Tuesday’s game for the birth of his twins. He logged 22:54, recorded two shots and finished plus-1. Roy was unavailable because of an upper-body injury, while Back exited for Dallas during the opening period and did not come back.
