Hintz scores twice, Stars surge past Senators

DALLAS -- Roope Hintz scored twice and the Dallas Stars rallied to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

“When he’s moving up and down the ice, he’s such a big man playing with speed like that. It’s really hard to handle,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “When he’s feeling confident, feeling good about his game, he covers the length of the ice as quickly as anyone in the League.”

Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson each had two assists for Dallas (23-13-1), which has won four of its past five games. Jake Oettinger made 11 saves.

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist and Leevi Merilainen made 21 saves for Ottawa (19-16-2), which is 7-3-0 in its past 10 games.

“We got what we deserved. We weren’t good enough tonight,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We didn’t play 60 minutes. Our power play wasn’t very good. We didn’t make enough plays with the puck. We weren’t sharp with the puck when we needed to be. We took a lot of penalties as well that we can’t take against a good team. I just didn’t think we looked sharp tonight.”

Hintz gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 4:39 of the first period when he deflected a shot from the top of the left face-off circle by Robertson on the power play.

“We have had a lot of good looks before, but just haven’t scored. I think it’s good that now we have some go in,” Hintz said. “Just try to build on that and keep going. Try to create something every game, and sometimes it doesn’t go in. If you get chances, it’s always good. Can’t get frustrated, just keep trying and putting it to the net.”

Tkachuk tied it 1-1 at 7:45 after Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley turned the puck over off the face-off. Shane Pinto found Tkachuk on the back door with an open net on the bang-bang play.

Ottawa scored again 24 seconds later, taking a 2-1 lead at 8:09 after Tkachuk stripped Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen of the puck behind the net, setting Ridly Greig up for a snap shot from the slot.

“First one, we were able to capitalize on a turnover and it was a great play by [Pinto]. Second one was just a forecheck,” Tkachuk said. “That’s our identity is getting on the forecheck and being able to swarm and being able to quick strike on plays like that. Just a lot of offense happened in 24 seconds, we’ve just got to find a way to create more.”

Jamie Benn tied it 2-2 at 10:19 in the second period on a shot from the top of the left face-off circle that went in off the crossbar.

“[Johnston], Jamie and I, I think we see this game very similar and we like giving goals, and we forecheck and I think we’ve been getting goals and chances off good forecheck and then get pucks back and make plays,” Duchene said. “I think it’s pretty simple. [Johnston]’s got great vision out there, so does Jamie, and we got on the same page really quickly, so it’s felt pretty good.”

Hintz gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 11:27 on a shot from the slot off a netfront scramble.

“Since we’ve switched the lines up, it feels like we’re a little more dangerous, getting more done, more jump in our game. You’ve got to make adjustments when guys get hurt and the guys have been doing a really good job. It feels more fun out there right now, more is happening,” Duchene said. “I saw a stat tonight, goalies last seven games have a .937 save percentage against us at home, so we’re still finding more ways to win because we’re doing enough right things. We start getting enough just good performances from goalies, we’ll score even more, so we’re doing some good things and we’re getting rewarded.”

Duchene extended the lead to 4-2 at 13:37 in the third period when Johnston spotted him in the slot from behind the net.

“We just kind of lost focus, a little immaturity there. Have to be better,” Pinto said. “You have to give them credit, they played well, but we have a lot better than that. We really didn’t respond in either the second or the third.”

NOTES: Johnston has a five-game point streak (eight points; three goals, five assists). ... Robertson has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the past three games. ... Tkachuk recorded his 99th career multi-point game, tying Dany Heatley for the fifth-most in franchise history (Daniel Alfredsson, 281; Jason Spezza, 183; Erik Karlsson, 131; and Alexei Yashin, 129). … Dallas became the third team to win 1,000 games in the 21st century, behind the Boston Bruins (1,027 wins) and Washington Capitals (1,003).