By Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press on May 9, 2024.
DALLAS (AP) – Dallas defenceman Miro Heiskanen scored two power-play goals, Roope Hintz had a goal and three assists and the Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in Game 2 on Thursday night to even the second-round Western Conference series. Tyler Seguin got his first goal this post-season on a short-hander at the end of a 3-on-1 breakaway for the Stars that put them up 4-0 late in the second period. Esa Lindell added an empty-netter with 20 seconds left. Jake Oettinger had 28 saves against a Colorado team that led the NHL in scoring during the regular season and had averaged an NHL-high 5.33 goals in its first six games this post-season. Joel Kiviranta, Andrew Cogliano and Brandon Duhaime scored in the third period for the Avalanche, who failed to score on a power play in the final three minutes that turned briefly into a 6-on-4 after goalie Alexander Georgiev skated to the bench. Game 3 is Saturday night in Denver. Hintz, whose only previous point this post-season had been an empty-net goal in Game 4 of the opening series against Vegas, put Dallas up 2-0 less than two minutes into the second period. That came after the Avalanche had failed to score on a power play that carried over from the end of the first period, when Oettinger had a couple of impressive saves in the closing seconds. It also was soon after Miles Wood, who scored in overtime for Colorado in Game 1, had a shot blocked by Oettinger and the Stars took the puck the other way. Hintz was to the left of Alexander Georgiev when he got a cross-ice pass from Nils Lundkvist. Georgiev stopped 26 shots. — AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL 11