Hintz scores two shorthanded goals to help Stars defeat Blues

DALLAS -- Roope Hintz scored two shorthanded goals for the Dallas Stars in a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at the American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Hintz is the fourth player in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score two shorthanded goals in one game, and the first to do so since the team relocated to Dallas for the 1993-94 season.
"Speed, anticipation, strong on the puck," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said about Hintz in his penalty-killing role. "That's a franchise record, two shorthanded goals in a game. [Hintz] can play against anybody in the League, I'm not worried about him. He's very underrated defensively, and he's one of our best penalty killers."

Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist, Michael Raffl assisted on both shorthanded goals, and Jake Oettinger made 35 saves for the Stars (7-7-2), who have won three straight at home and were coming off a 7-2 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
"[Oettinger] was great," Bowness said. "He was really, really good. He's eating the puck and reading the plays really, really well. No rebounds and swallowing the puck when he had to. He reads the play really well and his anticipation is really good. He was outstanding. He's a young goalie and is going to have some ups and downs, and that goes with it, but the important thing is you see the high end."
Jordan Binnington made 29 saves, and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues (9-6-2).
"They were very hungry coming off a tough loss," St. Louis captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "They came super aggressive, and it's tough when they do that. It's tough to make clean plays, and it's not one guy specifically at fault there. It's all of us together."
Ryan Suter scored a power-play goal to give the Stars a 1-0 lead at 5:16 of the second period when his shot from the blue line beat Binnington in the top corner of the net.
"Give [the Stars] credit, they jumped on things, they were quick," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "It was a tight game all around. It was a tough game, there wasn't a lot of room, and they checked well. And they capitalized more than us on their chances."
The goal came four minutes after Stars forward Alexander Radulov was stopped on a penalty shot, which was awarded when Blues defenseman Colton Parayko held his stick on a breakaway chance at 1:47.
Hintz finished off a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush past a sprawling Binnington after receiving a cross-slot pass from Raffl to extend the Stars lead to 2-0 at 10:49.
"I saw that [Raffl] was skating, getting the puck, so I just tried to join with him," Hintz said. "And then I saw that there was only one [defenseman] in the play, so it was good. … It's a big one that you get [the pass] on the tape because you're trying to skate fast, so if it's not there, it might be a missed chance, but today I got two nice passes, so it was great."

The Blues cut the lead to 2-1 at 12:21 when Saad deflected a rebound that caromed over the head of Oettinger on the power play.
"You could tell we were fighting the puck tonight," O'Reilly said. "I myself felt it multiple times. Not settling it, not getting it flat and able to make a hard play. It happened multiple times where we were just kind of shoveling it on when it's not in full control."
Dallas extended the lead to 3-1 when Hintz scored his second shorthanded goal at 3:55 of the third period. Raffl forced a turnover by St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug to create a 2-on-1 rush, then passed the puck to Hintz streaking down the left side.
"Obviously, it's tough to win a hockey game when you [allow two shorthanded goals]," Saad said. "It's hard to explain. I think the execution could be a little sharper. Obviously, they capitalized on their chances, but we can't be having that."
Benn scored into an empty net at 18:31 for the 4-1 final.
"Especially after how we played in [Minnesota], I think that's huge for us," Raffl said. "Because we were going really good before and to bounce back like that is huge for the confidence in the group. We can build off that for sure."
NOTES: The other players to score multiple shorthanded goals in a game in Stars/North Stars history were Bill Collins in 1970, Dirk Graham in 1986, and Neal Broten in 1988. Hintz is the first to do so on home ice. … Blues forward Jordan Kyrou had his six-game point streak end. … Linesman Andrew Smith was helped off the ice at 9:08 in the first period after taking a clearing attempt by Blues defenseman Justin Faulk to the ankle. The remainder of the game was played with two referees and one linesman.