Stars score four in first in Game 4 win against Predators

DALLAS -- Roope Hintz scored his first two Stanley Cup Playoff goals, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Nashville Predators 5-1 in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

Ben Bishop made 34 saves, John Klingberg had three assists, and Esa Lindell had two assists for the Stars.
"I don't think it's as easy as it looks," Klingberg said. "If they score a couple of goals there, they create momentum, they're suddenly back in the game. We did a good job today. We closed it down and kept playing our game."
WATCH: [All Predators vs. Stars highlights | Complete series coverage]
Roman Josi scored for the Predators. Pekka Rinne allowed four goals on eight shots and was pulled at 13:45 of the first period. Juuse Saros made 20 saves in relief.
The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2 with Game 5 at Nashville on Saturday.
"We have home ice back for a best-of-3, so that's our focus," Predators forward Nick Bonino said. "Did what we wanted to do coming to Dallas. We would have loved to go up 3-1. Didn't happen. Everyone on this team's been in a 2-2 series before. We'll go home and try to get Game 5."

The Stars led 4-0 in the first period, with three goals on the power play. They went 1-for-13 with the man-advantage the previous three games. Dallas hadn't scored a goal in the first period in the series and was last in the NHL with 39 first-period goals during the regular season.
"We got the puck deep," Hintz said, "and we didn't mess around and took the puck to the net."
Hintz, a rookie who scored nine goals during the season, gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 3:42 on the power play with a wrist shot from above the left face-off circle, helped by a screen from Jamie Benn. Alexander Radulov made it 2-0 on the power play at 4:58 when he one-timed a bouncing puck past Rinne's glove.

"Those first two goals made a big impact on our game and got the crowd going," Lindell said.
Andrew Cogliano made it 3-0 at 8:24, converting a long rebound following a slap shot from the right wall by Blake Comeau. Mats Zuccarello increased the advantage to 4-0 with a one-timer from the slot at 13:45 off a pass from Klingberg for Dallas' third power-play goal.
"There are definitely things we can do better with regard to how we execute on the penalty kill, or staying out of the penalty box," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "But I don't think it was a lack of our guys being ready to play."
With a four-goal lead, Stars coach Jim Montgomery said the message was to keep initiating and keep skating.
"The way to frustrate a team is they have to cheat on offense because they're behind," Montgomery said. "If we check really well, we'll get odd-man rushes and frustrate them."
Hintz made it 5-0, tipping in a pass from Klingberg on a 2-on-1 at 10:09 of the second period.

Josi scored with a wrist shot from the point through traffic at 8:11 of the third period to make it 5-1.
It was the second shortest playoff start of Rinne's NHL career. He was pulled after 10:31 in Game 7 of the second round last season after allowing two goals on seven shots in a 5-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Laviolette said he expects the 2018 Vezina Trophy winner as the best goalie in the NHL to play well in Game 5.
"He's played fantastic to this point," Laviolette said. "It's hard to fault [Rinne] on those goals in those situations and the circumstances of the situations we put him in."
Bishop made a third start in five days for the first time since Dec. 29-Jan. 2. It came following a loss when he allowed three goals for the first time since Feb. 4.
"I knew [Bishop] was going to bounce back," Montgomery said.

They said it

"You have to put it in the trash tomorrow and look forward. It's one game, but we're definitely angry about it." -- Predators captain Roman Josi
"We know they're going to come out hard in their building (in Game 5), so just be ready." -- Stars goalie Ben Bishop

Need to know

The Predators went 0-for-2 on the power play and are 0-for-10 in the series. … Zuccarello has six points (four goals, two assists) in six games with the Stars -- two during the regular season and four in the playoffs -- after being acquired in a trade from the New York Rangers on Feb. 23.

What's next

Game 5 of Western Conference First Round at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS)