The Dallas Stars are set to begin the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Unfortunately for them, they are going to be without the services of forward Roope Hintz.
Roope Hintz is being listed out with an upper-body injury, as the NHL doesn’t require teams to specify what is wrong with a player. But, this will be the third consecutive game that Hintz will not be in the lineup for.
During the Dallas Stars’ Second Round series against the Colorado Avalanche, Hintz was injured late in the first period of Game 4. He exited after blocking a shot but was also shaken up after taking a crosscheck from Nathan MacKinnon earlier.
Not having Hintz in the mix is a tough blow for the Stars. He was tied for the third most points on the team during the regular season with 65 along with Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene. Only Jason Robertson with 80 and Joe Pavelski with 67 had more.
Roope Hintz was second on the team with 30 goals, trailing only the 32 scored by Johnston. Alas, in the postseason, Hintz hasn’t been as impactful. He has recorded only two goals and six total points in 11 games.
Dallas Stars coach Peter DeBoer is hopeful that his high-scoring forward can be back in the lineup for Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday. For now, all the focus will be on Game 1 and snapping their eye-popping losing streak.
Dallas has lost six consecutive Game 1s of a series. The last time they took the opener was in the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They would go on to lose that series but have shown an ability to consistently come back despite slow starts in Game 1s. In this year’s postseason, they lost the first two games to the Vegas Golden Knights before winning in seven and defeated the Avalanche in six.
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