Hintz scores twice, Stars rally to defeat Capitals in shootout
Strome has 2 goals, Ovechkin gets 1,500th point; Duchene plays 1,000th NHL game for Dallas
By
Harvey Valentine
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
Ovechkin had the secondary assist on Dylan Strome’s goal at 9:08 of the third period to give him 827 goals and 673 assists in 1,370 regular-season games and become the 16th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 points.
“It’s a pretty cool number,” Ovechkin said. “I always say, without my teammates, I would never reach it. It’s pretty cool.”
Jason Robertson scored the only goal in the shootout for Dallas.
Roope Hintz scored twice in the third period, and Robertson had two assists for the Stars (15-7-3), who had lost the first two games of a three-game road trip, including 5-4 at the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves.
“I just think we’re staring at going 0-for on the road trip and really, we’ve played some pretty good hockey, so we found a way to grind it out and get a win tonight,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “Wasn’t an easy trip. Not a lot of bounces, not a lot of calls. Found a way to salvage two points.”
Strome had two goals and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in his 700th NHL game, and Aliaksei Protas had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (12-8-3), who have lost three straight. Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves.
“We’ve just got a lot of work to do,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “We make some mistakes that just constantly are just digging ourselves. And it’s our whole lineup, like our entire lineup top to bottom are just making massive, massive mistakes that you just can’t make at this level if you expect to win hockey games.”
Strome gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead at 9:08 of the third period on the power play with his second goal after receiving a drop pass from Anthony Mantha and beating Wedgewood with a wrist shot.
“I think it was a bit of a 3-on-2 and I kind of faked like I was going to drive and then ‘Mo’ (Mantha) just chipped it back to me or a drop pass,” Strome said. “Then I just saw far side and pulled it around a stick and nice to get one on the power play.”
Hintz tied it 4-4 at 13:47 with his second goal, scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Protas gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 7:11 of the first period. After Wedgewood misplayed the puck behind his net, Protas got to it and his centering pass appeared to deflect in off Stars forward Evgenii Dadonov.
Tyler Seguin tied it 1-1 at 15:38 when he scored on a one-timer below the left circle off a pass from Sam Steel above right circle.
Strome put Washington ahead 2-1 at 4:31 of the second period, getting to a loose puck and beating Wedgewood with a wrist shot from the slot.
Kuznetsov made it 3-1 at 7:14, receiving a pass from Matthew Phillips and scoring on a breakaway.
“We had them where we wanted them and weren’t able to get ‘er done,” Lindgren said. “I thought overall we played a pretty solid game but came up short.”
Mason Marchment cut it to 3-2 at 14:19 when he scored from the right circle off a pass from Matt Duchene on a 2-on-1 rush. It was his fifth goal over the past five games.
"We have no panic in here,” Duchene said. “It doesn't really matter what we get down. We're a very even-keeled, mature, veteran group. I don't think we ever thought we were going to lose that game, even when we got down 3-1. We just had to pick it up, start playing our game.”
It was Duchene’s 1,000th NHL game.
"Obviously a special game, and the most important thing is getting the 'W,'” Duchene said. “Nice that we got it done. Obviously tough kind of turnaround. I don't think I put my head on the pillow till 2:45 last night. ... Big win for us. Obviously sometimes it takes 65-plus (minutes), so it was good to get it done."
Hintz tied it 3-3 at 1:51 of the third period on a power play after Robertson’s shot from the point deflected off Hintz’s skate and past Lindgren.
NOTES: Ovechkin became the fifth player in NHL history to record 1,500 points among those who have played for only one franchise in their career, joining Steve Yzerman (1,755 points, Detroit Red Wings), Mario Lemieux (1,723, Pittsburgh Penguins), Joe Sakic (1,641, Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques) and Sidney Crosby (1,529, Penguins). … Strome scored his 100th NHL goal in 377 games. … It was Protas' fourth multipoint game of the season, which is tied with Ovechkin for the most on the team.
