The second-intermission scoreboard said Dallas led Washington 5-3. It did not say the game was under control. The second period had produced seven goals, including two by the Capitals after the Stars had opened a 5-1 advantage, so the next goal carried unusual weight before anyone took a third-period shift.
Roope Hintz got it 1:23 into the period. His intended pass deflected off Washington defenseman Martin Fehervary and went past Charlie Lindgren, putting Dallas ahead 6-3 in a game the Stars won 6-5. A strange bounce helped decide the play, but Hintz’s contribution was larger than the deflection itself: Dallas bought a three-goal cushion before Washington could turn its second-period response into a full comeback.
The Capitals still made that cushion uncomfortable. At 12:55, Justin Sourdif was credited with a goal after the puck came off an Anthony Beauvillier shot and then Jake Oettinger before rolling in. Ryan Leonard scored at 18:58 with Washington using an extra attacker, reducing Dallas’s lead to one with 1:02 remaining.
Those goals meant Hintz’s finish did not remove the danger. It required Washington to produce three third-period goals instead of two to tie the game, and the Capitals came up one short.
That is what insurance looks like in hockey: not calm, necessarily, but a higher price for every later mistake. Dallas had only four shots in the third period to Washington’s 12. The Stars did not answer the Capitals with a matching wave of offense.
They had already placed one more goal between Washington and a tie, then had to protect the remaining margin through a period in which the shot count tilted sharply the other way.
Hintz’s role in the scoring began well before that early third-period play. At 0:23 of the second, Jason Robertson scored from the left circle on the power play, with Wyatt Johnston and Hintz credited with assists. Hintz’s was the secondary assist, but it attached him to the goal that made the score 2-0 after Dallas had carried a 1-0 lead through the opening period.
Five minutes and 20 seconds later, Robertson completed his natural hat trick. The third goal came at 5:43, at even strength, when his wrister from high in the zone found a lane and clipped the right post on its way in. Hintz again supplied an assist, this time alongside Thomas Harley.
Between those two plays, Robertson scored at 3:18 from high in the right circle for a 3-0 lead, with Arttu Hyry and Tyler Myers assisting.
Robertson deserved the spotlight with three goals and an assist on five shots. Hintz’s three points tell a different story. His two assists bookended the important parts of Robertson’s five-minute, 20-second outburst: one on a power-play finish, one on an even-strength goal, then his own score when Dallas needed to re-establish separation.
He was not the night’s leading scorer, but he was connected to the part of the game that kept changing its temperature.
