Roope Hintz’s second goal of the night came with 52.3 seconds left in regulation to break a tie game, and gave the visiting Dallas Stars a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
Hintz, who also put Dallas ahead with a goal early in the second period, pounced on a loose puck amid a net-front scrum late in the third for his fifth score in the last three games. Jamie Benn assisted on the play and opened the scoring with career goal 343 to sit alone in second place on the franchise list for the Central Division-leading Stars, who are amid a 7-2-1 overall stretch and won all three 2022-23 meetings with Nashville.
Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin each had a goal and Juuse Saros made 30 saves for the Predators, who are mired in a 1-3-1 home stretch. Nashville played without Matt Duchene, the team’s co-leader with 26 points entering the night, following the birth of his daughter.
Dallas wasted no time opening the scoring. Just 1:19 into the contest, Nashville had trouble clearing its zone, and the puck ultimately made its way to Benn, who beat Saros with a wrister for the milestone tally that also extended his point streak to six games. The Stars also had two power-play opportunities in the opening frame, but failed both times.
The Predators answered 56 seconds into the second period. With a 4-on-4 situation, Jack Oettinger’s pad-save rebound of Alex Carrier’s shot went right to Forsberg, who buried the puck for his 10th goal of the season. However, Dallas regained the lead 1:19 later, when Hintz deflected Jason Robertson’s shot from the point for a power-play score.
Nashville, though, tied it again with 11:45 remaining in the second. With the Predators short-handed, Trenin skated from his own end and kept the puck via a partial 2-on-1 break to beat Oettinger (26 saves). Nashville held a 13-4 shots-on-goal advantage in the middle frame.
Dallas is 4-0-1 in its last five road contests.
–Field Level Media