Hintz has 4 points, Stars hold off Avalanche in Game 2 to even series

DALLAS -- Roope Hintz had a goal and three assists, and the Dallas Stars held off a late rally from the Colorado Avalanche to win 5-3 in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

Colorado scored three straight goals in the third period to make it a one-goal game after scoring four in a row to win Game 1 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday.

The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1. Game 3 is at Colorado on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, MAX).

“It’s 1-1 now. We were down 2-0 against Vegas (in the first round), it’s a long way from there. It’s a lot better to be 1-1, huge win for us,” Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen said. “We still need to be better. We gave them a little bit too much time and space in the third, but we found a way to win the game and that’s the most important thing.”

Heiskanen scored twice, and Jake Oettinger made 28 saves for Dallas, which is the No. 1 seed from the Central Division.

“We got scoring from the right guys. Roope [Hintz] looked like Roope tonight. Miro [Heiskanen] had a couple of big goals and Tyler Seguin with a goal, so the right guys got on the board for us,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Those guys want to be difference-makers, and they’re used to being difference-makers. It’s critical that those guys started to score.”

Valeri Nichushkin, Brandon Duhaime and Joel Kiviranta scored for Colorado, which is the No. 2 seed from the Central. Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves.

“The second period though, for me, is where it fell apart. Just not sharp,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I mean, just go to the penalties alone and it shows you're not sharp. You had two too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties. You had two over-the-glass penalties that are not forced. So, it's eight minutes of power play you’re giving a really good power-play team. And the rest of our execution and frustration kind of keeps building from there. Did not like the second period at all.”

Heiskanen gave Dallas a 1-0 lead on the power play at 14:46 of the first period when he scored with a one-timer from the bottom of the right face-off circle off a seam pass from Hintz.

Hintz made it 2-0 at 1:57 of the second period. He took a pass from Nils Lundkvist on the rush and put a snap shot over a sprawling Georgiev from below the right circle. It was Hintz's second goal of the playoffs; the first was into an empty net in Game 4 of the first round.

“He’s been right there. He’s getting a lot of looks. As a forward in maybe a slump, that’s all you can ask for,” Dallas forward Mason Marchment said of Hintz. “Eventually, they’re going to go in. He was skating, he was physical, winning battles. We’re going to need him to be a horse like he was tonight.”

Heiskanen extended the lead to 3-0 at 15:54 with a power-play goal when his shot from the top of the left circle deflected in off Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano’s stick.

“It just seems we weren’t skating enough with the puck and we weren’t getting separation from them. They were doing a good job checking,” Cogliano said. “We have to support the puck a little bit better, we have to get our legs moving and get more of a north game with our legs and our skating. I think a combination of both probably is what didn’t help us in the first period and put us behind.”

Tyler Seguin scored short-handed to make it 4-0 at 18:06, collecting a rebound in the slot and beating Georgiev with a snap shot.

“It felt like a lot of those goals were on us. Just unfortunate they just kind of keep compounding like that early in the game and then we've got to dig ourselves out of the hole,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said. “Not [an] ideal way to win games but there was a lot of compete in that third period, so you've got to take that as a positive.”

Kiviranta cut it to 4-1 at 4:06 of the third period, stuffing in a rebound at the right post.

“Some of the breakdowns we did in the third we didn’t do in the first two periods. We got away from that,” Dallas forward Jason Robertson said. “With a team like that, it’s a quick strike. We saw that in Game 1. We have to keep those details throughout the game and try to limit those 5-on-5 chances.”

Duhaime made it 4-2 at 8:00 when he took a centering pass from Cogliano and beat Oettinger with a snap shot from the high slot for his first NHL postseason goal.

“It looked like we wanted to attack and force them to make mistakes, and that's when we're at our best," Makar said. "So, guys did a really good job of making plays. And when we move our feet, we exploit them and find open seams. So, a lot of guys made some great plays on those goals. And again, that's a one positive you can take out of tonight, but again, move on.”

Colorado cut it to 4-3 at 16:16 when Artturi Lehkonen’s shot from the left circle deflected in off Nichushkin's leg.

Esa Lindell scored an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left for the 5-3 final.

NOTES: Nichushkin extended his playoff-opening goal streak to seven games, tying Pat LaFontaine (1992) for the longest such streak in NHL history.