Hintz, Seguin lead way for Stars in Western 1st-Round series win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin powered the Dallas Stars through the Western Conference First Round.

It was only fitting they were there once again in Game 6, connecting on the opening goal in a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.
Hintz finishes his first round with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) to lead all Stanley Cup Playoff scorers. Seguin, whose pass sprung Hintz on the opening goal, leads the Stars with four power-play goals.
"Yeah, I mean, what can you say about Roope? He was fantastic all series, just went to a whole other level," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "And I thought Tyler Seguin was outstanding. When Joe Pavelski goes down, that's not an easy spot to fill and he worked, he got better and like our team, got better as the series went on, got more confident in that spot.
"We wouldn't be sitting here moving on to the next round tonight without Tyler Seguin's contributions in this series."
RELATED: [Complete Stars vs. Wild series coverage]
The Stars will play either the Colorado Avalanche or the Seattle Kraken in the second round. The Avalanche defeated the Kraken 4-1 in Game 6 on Friday to even that best-of-7 series 3-3. Game 7 is at Ball Arena in Denver on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS, SN, ALT, ROOT-NW).
Seguin moved up to the top line with Hintz and left wing Jason Robertson, and to the first power-play unit to replace forward Joe Pavelski, who has been in concussion protocol since he was injured on a hit from Wild defenseman Matt Dumba in the first round.
With Pavelski close to returning, DeBoer said, "I would've had to hire a team of 10 guys to probably keep him out of Game 7 if we got to that point."
But in a pinch, Seguin delivered.
"He's been great all year," defenseman Ryan Suter said of Seguin. "When guys would go down on that top line, he would step in and fill that gap and then in the playoff series, he's been great for us. He stepped up again for us, and it's just good when you've got everyone kind of pulling the rope in the same direction and going after it."

With Hintz, his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and skill are obvious. But it's his speed that's at the forefront.
"Zing," Seguin said. "That's Roope. Zing.
"Playing with him, I'm kind of getting used to him honestly the last few games, remembering what [Pavelski] and [Robertson] do. Sometimes they go up and kind of come back to the puck, so you know he's gaining speed. Guys like him, guys like (Colorado Avalanche center Nathan) MacKinnon, guys like (Edmonton Oilers center Connor) McDavid, they come back to the puck and you kind of lay it areas for him. Found him there early in the first, and what a play by him."
But Game 6 was one in which the Stars had contributions across the board. After scoring nine power-play goals in the first five games, they had three at even-strength in Game 6.
And Jake Oettinger was his usual stellar self in goal, making 23 saves Friday. Wild forward Frederick Gaudreau's goal, which came with 7:07 remaining in the third period, was the only goal Oettinger allowed in the past two games.
"Probably one of my favorite hockey moments in my career is winning this series," said Oettinger, who is from Lakeville, Minnesota, about 30 minutes south of St. Paul. "I think I learned just how hard it is to win the Cup.
"We've got to go do that three more times now. It takes everything. It takes every punch of what you've got. We're going to enjoy these couple days off and go back at it."

The Stars will have a few days to heal some bumps and bruises. They'll happily give Pavelski a few more days to get ready for the second round. They'll wait to see whether they'll play the Avalanche, their Central Division rival, or the Kraken, who qualified for the playoffs in their second season.
The first round against the Wild was a grind, but the Stars are moving on.
"We're a confident group, from 'Jakey' out," captain Jamie Benn said. "You know, our whole group is committed to playing the right way and we've been playing some good hockey all year. Whoever our next opponent is, we're going to focus on ourselves and what we can do to get better and try to win."