With first-line center Roope Hintz in the lineup again, the Dallas Stars suddenly have one of their top goal-scorers back in form: linemate Jason Robertson.
Hintz had an immediate impact in his return after missing four games with a lower-body injury.
"I don't know if anyone doubted that there would be," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. "I think 'Robo' probably enjoyed it the most."
After 10 games without a goal, Robertson had a playoff hat track in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against Edmonton on Monday night. Hintz had the primary assists on the first two goals in a 2 1/2-minute span that got the Stars even, and was also on the ice for Robertson's third that was the game-winning goal.
"You could see the speed really drive our line through the neutral zone," Robertson said. "It was a race (to the puck) and he won almost all of them, if not all of them. So, yeah, it was great."
Dallas takes a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 on Wednesday night, and maybe Hintz and Robertson are getting on track at the right time with the Stars trying to get to their second Stanley Cup Final in five seasons.
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Hintz had only one goal without any assists in the first eight playoff games. He then broke through with a goal and three assists in Game 2 of the second-round series against Colorado, the most recent home game he played, and had another assist in the following game before leaving hurt in the first period of Game 4 at the Avalanche on May 13.
The 27-year-old has scored at least 30 goals in each of the past three regular seasons. He was the Stars' top scorer in the playoffs last year with 24 points (10 goals and 14 assists) when they got to Game 6 of the West final before a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
"You take those type of players out of your lineup, it affects all kinds of parts of your games, and individuals in your lineup," Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. "That's the reality ... there's a trickle effect."
DeBoer lauded the Stars for how they "gutted it out" when Hintz was watching the games instead of playing them. The coach said he was really proud of how they handled his absence.
"Just brings so much to our lineup," said Wyatt Johnston, their 21-year-old center. "It hard to, you know, just kind of explain. He just does so much."
Robertson didn't have a goal in any of the six games - two in the regular season before the playoffs - that Hintz has missed this season. Robertson has 116 goals over the past three regular seasons.
"Goal scorers like him, you need one to drop. And then all of a sudden it looks like a soccer net. He's always been streaky," DeBoer said. "Obviously having Roope back helps, but, you know, I've liked Robo's game even with Roope out of the lineup. ... Without our No. 1 center, I thought everyone was doing some heavy lifting. Maybe it didn't show on the stat sheet, but, we won games against really good teams all kinds of different ways."
ON THE ROAD
After being the NHL's best road team in the regular season, the Stars are 6-1 on the road this postseason. That includes winning all three Game 3s in these playoffs. They also won their previous two Game 4s, road games at Vegas and Colorado, the past two Stanley Cup champions.
CLOSE GAMES
Dallas had late empty-net goals in each of the past two games against the Oilers to finish with two-goal wins. Edmonton was 6-4 in one-goal games this postseason before that. The Stars are 4-3 in one-goal games, and before this series had split four other two-goal games when there were late empty-net goals.
NO HATS IN EDMONTON
Not a single hat was thrown on the ice after Robertson scored his third goal Monday night. Not surprising, since the Stars were far away from home.
"I mentally threw mine," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said.
Joe Pavelski, Denis Gurianov and Joel Kiviranta have also had playoff hat tricks for the Stars at Rogers Place in Edmonton, but none of those were against the Oilers, and there weren't any fans in the stands then to throw hats.
That was during the 2020 playoffs in the Canadian bubble during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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