Stars end Capitals' road winning streak at 10

DALLAS -- Roope Hintz scored twice for the Dallas Stars, who ended the Washington Capitals' 10-game road winning streak with a 3-1 victory at American Airlines Center on Monday.

“This was a chance to make a statement against the best team in the League,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “You’re down men, you’re down some guys. You’re short-handed. You’re playing the best team in the League and the hottest team in the League. Your best players have to be your best players tonight, and I thought ours were. Roope, [Jason Robertson], [Jake Oettinger], Miro [Heiskanen], [Esa Lindell]. We needed that tonight.”

Lian Bichsel scored, and Robertson had two assists for the Stars (19-11-0). Oettinger made 25 saves.

“They’re really going to be a tough team to beat at the end of the season. They’re heavy and [have] good leadership, a lot of those guys know what it takes to win it all. They’ve got great goaltending and not surprising how good they are,” Oettinger said. “It’s a great test. Everything had to be good for us in order to win. Our [penalty kill] stepped up huge and got some big goals to win this one.”

Dylan Strome scored, and Charlie Lindgren made 21 saves for the Capitals (21-7-2), who had won their past four games.

“I don’t mind our process tonight at all. That’s a really good team. I thought we did enough to win the game. Obviously, power play we needed more out of tonight,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “You’ve got to give him credit, [Oettinger] is a world-class goalie. He’s one of the best in the world, but we have to get to those spots, we have to find a way to break through.”

Strome gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 15:39 of the first period when he tipped in Jakob Chychrun's shot from the point.

“You look at the goals scored. Their goal tonight, their [defenseman] got a puck through to the net, it was a tip," DeBoer said. "[Bichsel’s] goal, puck through to the net. When you get two teams [in a] really tight-checking game, like a playoff game, that’s how you score. You’ve got to find a way to get the puck through to the net."

Strome said: “I felt like we did a pretty good job overall the whole game, didn’t have too many lapses. We controlled the game for the most part, I think. Just couldn’t get pucks through as well as we have in the past. If we play like that most nights, I like our chances.”

Hintz tied it 1-1 at 13:28 of the second period on the power play. He scored with a one-timer in the slot after Jamie Benn sent a pass to him from the right of the net.

Bichsel gave the Stars a 2-1 lead at 17:35 on a shot from the left point that deflected off Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin. He has two goals in his first three NHL games.

“It’s not an easy job out there. I’m just getting into the League, but I think I’m doing a good job keeping it simple and helping the team,” Bichsel said. “I’m fighting for a job here, and doing all I can here to make their decision hard. Every day is a new opportunity for me, and every day I have to show them that I’m worth playing here.”

Hintz made it 3-1 at 14:58 of the third period on a shot from inside the right face-off circle.

“The power play, unfortunately we didn’t execute as well as we would have liked. I think that was probably one of the deciding factors tonight,” Chychrun said. “I think if we can capitalize on one of those it makes it a different game. I think power play has been pretty good as of late, and tonight we just didn’t have our best.

"But 5-on-5, I think we were really good and gave ourselves a really good opportunity to win that game. I don’t know the numbers, but it seems like we definitely out chanced them and played pretty well all around.”

NOTE: Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist left the game at 3:00 of the third period due to flu symptoms.