Hintz completes hat trick with 7.9 seconds left in OT as Stars beat Blackhawks 5-4
DALLAS (AP) — Roope Hintz completed a hat trick with 7.9 seconds remaining in overtime giving the Dallas Stars a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
Hintz stood at the crease behind Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek and tapped home a pass from Jason Robertson for the winner.
“I just tried to park there back door, and he gave me a great pass,” Hintz said of Robertson, one of his regular linemates. “I had an empty net there. That was great.”
Hintz is the fifth player in Dallas Stars history to complete a hat trick with an overtime goal. The others are Jason Robertson (March 4, 2022), Dino Ciccarelli (March 17, 1986), Tom McCarthy (March 12, 1984) and Neal Broten (Nov. 26, 1983).
Three of Hintz’s five career hat tricks are against Chicago.
Joe Pavelski, Hintz’s other linemate, and Jamie Benn each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who have won five consecutive home games.
The Stars are 13-3-4 in one-goal games and have a league-best 13 comeback wins.
“Sometimes we have to find a way and don’t quit,” Hintz said. “That’s one thing we don’t do. We don’t quit.”
Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves for Dallas, which trails first-place Colorado by one point in the Central Division.
Tyler Johnson had two goals while Cole Guttman and Jason Dickinson each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks, who are 0-9-1 in their last 10 road games and are 0-17-1 when allowing more than three goals.
“It’s good that we got the point, but I think we can do a lot better,” Johnson said.
Mrazek stopped 30 shots.
Johnson’s second goal tied the score at 4-all at 17:24 of the third period 25 seconds into a power play.
Dickinson, Dallas’ first-round draft pick in 2013, pulled Chicago within 4-3 with his career-best 12th goal of the season off the far post at 8:58 of the third period.
Benn gave the Stars a 4-2 lead on a rebound early in the third period, snapping an 11-game goal drought.
Dallas turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in a 20-second span midway through the second period on goals by Pavelski at 9:03 and Hintz at 9:23.
Hintz also scored 16 seconds into a power play midway through the first period for Dallas’ first score on a pass from Pavelski.
Chicago jumped to a 2-0 lead 11 minutes in with goals from Johnson at 7:56 and Guttman exactly three minutes later.
It was the sixth consecutive start and seventh straight appearance for Wedgewood (10-2-2) since Jake Oettinger suffered a lower-body injury early in Dallas’ game on Dec. 15.
Pavelski’s two points give him 1,034 in his NHL career, moving him into seventh place among U.S.-born players, passing Doug Weight.
Dallas coach Pete DeBoer credited defenseman Miro Heiskanen with shutting down Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall draft pick last summer who leads NHL rookies with 15 goals, 17 assists and 32 points.
“He really relishes that challenge,” DeBoer said.
Chicago played almost the entire game without forward Taylor Raddysh, who suffered a lower-body injury in the first five minutes.
UP NEXT
The teams will play again at American Airlines Center on Sunday night.
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