Roope Hintz shines in audition for roster spot as Stars top Wild, 5-3

Roope Hintz got an opportunity to center the top line in Monday's preseason game, and he made the most of it, tallying one goal and one assist as the Dallas Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild, 5-3, at American Airlines Center.
"I think he is NHL ready," Stars captain Jamie Benn said of Hintz. "I thought he played a great game tonight."

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Hintz, who played on a line with Benn and Alexander Radulov, scored the Stars' first goal of the game and then helped set up Benn's game-winner with 8:10 remaining in the third period.
"I just tried to play my best," said Hintz, who is battling for a roster spot with Dallas. "I just try to do my best every night and play better every game and play hard. I think that is the best way to do it."

Benn scored two goals in the game and Esa Lindell and Blake Comeau also scored. Anton Khudobin went the distance in net and stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Stars who improved to 3-0-1 in preseason play.
Hintz put the Stars ahead 1-0 at 9:31 of the first, taking a pass from John Klingberg, splitting the Wild defense and beating goaltender Devan Dubnyk with a backhand shot. The Wild answered a little more than three minutes later when Marcus Foligno set up Matt Read, who scored from the slot to tie the game 1-1 at the 12:51 mark.
The Stars scored two goals in 90 seconds early in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Lindell scored on the power play, tallying from the left point just two seconds after a 5-on-3 advantage had expired to put Dallas up 2-1 at 1:46 of the second. Benn made it 3-1, driving the net off a faceoff and putting the puck into the net as he bowled over Dubnyk at 3:16 of the second. The Wild cut the Dallas lead to 3-2 on a power-play goal by Joel Eriksson Ek at 14:41 of the second.
The Wild tied it with a power-play goal when Kyle Rau got the puck past Khudobin off a scramble in the faceoff circle at 4:01 of the third. But the Stars regained the lead at the 11:50 mark with a pretty goal off the rush. Hintz dropped the puck to Radulov who set up Benn, and the Dallas captain scored from the left circle to make it a 4-3 game. Comeau pushed the Dallas lead to two less than two minutes later, stealing the puck from Wild defenseman Ryan Murphy at the Minnesota goal line and picking a corner on Dubnyk.

Turning point

After the Wild rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at 3-3, the Stars regained the lead for good on a pretty play by the top line. Off the rush, Roope Hintz dropped the puck to Alexander Radulov, who then set up Jamie Benn and the Dallas captain scored from the left circle to give the Stars a 4-3 lead with 8:10 remaining.
"Good talk from Rads," Hintz said. "He was yelling to me to 'drop, drop,' so then I just blind passed it to him and it went to him. It was good."
"Just two good plays by Roope and Rads," Benn said. "Just kind of a shot I shoot every time. Look at the goalie, and I know where I am going to shoot that puck."

Players of the game

Roope Hintz, Stars:The 21-year-old Hintz tallied one goal and one assist while centering the top line with Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. Hintz also won 9 of 14 faceoffs.
Esa Lindell, Stars:The Dallas defenseman was outstanding, tallying one goal, one assist and a plus-four rating. He had a plus-18 rating in SAT (Corsi) during 5-on-5 play.
Jamie Benn, Stars:The Stars captain scored two goals, including the game-winner. He led the Stars with seven shots on goal and 10 shot attempts.

They said it

"He improved them. The first two games, we were not overly excited about his play, so tonight he did himself a lot of favors." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery on Roope Hintz's roster chances after tonight
"I thought he was our best defenseman tonight by far."-- Montgomery on Esa Lindell
"I loved him. As a coach, you just want to see someone fight in the crease and keep battling. Some of those saves he made tonight on second and third effort pucks, it motivates the bench and lifts you up. It's great energy for us. He's a ball of energy."-- Montgomery on goaltender Anton Khudobin
"He was good. The kid skates well, and he's a big body. He plays the game fast, and he's an easy guy to play with. It seemed like he fit in well."-- Stars captain Jamie Benn on Roope Hintz
"His game? I know it starts with a good set of hair on him. He's got a strong hair game." -- Benn on what he knew about Hintz before this preseason
"I wish I had it." -- Montgomery on Hintz's hair

Notes

Up next

The Stars play preseason game No. 5 on Wednesday at Colorado, then play at St. Louis on Friday before closing out exhibition play Sunday with a game against Colorado at American Airlines Center.

Stars lineup

Jamie Benn - Roope Hintz - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Valeri Nichushkin
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Denis Gurianov - Jason Dickinson - Michael Mersch
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Marc Methot - Miro Heiskanen
Dillon Heatherington - Joel Hanley
Anton Khudobin
Landon Bow
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.