Roope Hintz Scores 2 Goals, Leads Stars to 4-2 Game 2 Win over Blues

The Dallas Stars evened their second-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues at 1-1 with a 4-2 win in Game 2 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Saturday.

Rookie forward Roope Hintz was the offensive catalyst for Dallas, as he finished with two goals and one assist, including an empty-net goal to clinch it.

Goalie Ben Bishop also continued his stellar play for the Stars, as he made 32 saves on 34 shots.

While the Blues put plenty of pucks on Bishop, their inability to convert with the man advantage doomed them, as they went 0-of-5 on the power play.

Dallas opened the scoring 7:11 into the first period when Mats Zuccarello stick-handled his way through the St. Louis defense and found Hintz in front. Hintz made no mistake in the slot and put the puck past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington:

With that goal, Hintz continued to trend toward being one of the best rookie playoff performers in Stars history, per NHL Public Relations:

The empty-netter scored by Hintz later tied him with Niko Kapanen for the most goals by a Stars rookie during the playoffs since the team moved to Dallas.

Zuccarello did the heavy lifting on the opening goal of the game, and Sean Shapiro of The Athletic made a strong observation regarding the former New York Rangers star:

Later in the first period, there was a goal-scoring barrage that resulted in three goals over the course of just over one minute:

It started with defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who took a gorgeous pass from Hintz through the legs of a Blues defenseman and deked around Binnington to extend the Dallas lead to 2-0:

After Blues defenseman Colton Parayko answered with a goal from Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron, the Stars restored their two-goal lead when center Mattias Janmark scored a goal assisted by forward Jason Dickinson.

Following an offensive explosion in the first, the teams combined for a scoreless second period, which set the stage for a third in which St. Louis would need to overcome a 3-1 deficit.

The comeback attempt began quickly when forward Jaden Schwartz deflected a Parayko shot past Bishop to make it 3-2 just 1:48 into the third frame:

Dallas argued that Schwartz interfered with Bishop on the play, but the goal was upheld.

With 2:45 remaining in regulation, Hintz made a major error when he shot the puck into the crowd and was called for delay of game, which gave the Blues a power play and a chance to tie it.

St. Louis pulled the goalie and had a six-on-four advantage for a time, but Bishop managed to shut the door, and Hintz preserved the win for the Stars by scoring an empty-net goal with three seconds left.

With the series tied 1-1, it will head to Dallas for Game 3 on Monday, as both teams will look to take a 2-1 advantage.