Roope Hintz had two goals and an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 5-2 win against the visiting Seattle Kraken in Game 5 in their Western Conference second-round series on Thursday night.

Hintz has eight goals and 18 points in the playoffs, helping Dallas to a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 on Saturday afternoon in Seattle.

Joe Pavelski had a goal and assist, Wyatt Johnston and Radek Faksa also scored, Jason Robertson had three assists, and Jake Oettinger made 29 saves for the Stars, who have won two straight.

Adam Larsson and Jared McCann scored and Philipp Grubauer made 16 saves for the Kraken.

Oettinger was the busier goalie the first three minutes, but the Stars scored first on their second shot to take a 1-0 lead at 3:57 of the first period.

Jamie Benn made a quick pass from just below the goal line to Johnston in the slot and he scored with a one-timer.

Dallas quickly stretched the lead to 2-0 at 5:35.

The Stars entered the offensive zone on a 3-on-2 rush before Hintz scored off a feed from Thomas Harley.

Dallas scored 35 seconds into the second period to make it 3-0.

Pavelski followed up his shot and scored the rebound for his seventh goal in just his sixth game of the 2023 playoffs.

The Kraken cut the lead to 3-1 at 1:59.

Jordan Eberle fed Larsson as he entered the offensive zone with speed and he scored with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Seattle further trimmed the lead to 3-2 at 7:30 of the second when McCann took advantage of traffic in front of the net and scored from above the right circle.

Larsson was initially credited with the goal, but it was changed to McCann, who was playing his second game since missing six with an undisclosed injury.

Hintz scored again at 11:20 of the third period to extend the lead to 4-2.

After Hintz lifted the puck high in the net from in close, play briefly continued until it was determined the puck had crossed the goal line.

The Stars made it 5-2 when Faksa scored into an empty net with 3:17 left.

–Field Level Media

Heading into Game 5 of their second-round Western Conference playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night in Las Vegas, the Edmonton Oilers will attempt to do something neither team has been able to do in their best-of-seven series.

Put together back-to-back wins.

It’s been a zig-zag of results for the two teams so far. After Vegas won the opener 6-4, the Oilers responded with a 5-1 win in Game 2. The Golden Knights then bounced back with an impressive 5-1 victory at Edmonton on Monday before the Oilers rebounded for a dominating 4-1 home win Wednesday to even the series 2-2.

“We have to put two together here,” Oilers forward Connor McDavid said. “We have to follow it up. Someone has to do it two nights in a row. It’s got to be us.”

Regardless of which team wins Friday, they will have to do it without one of their best defensemen.

The Department of Player Safety on Thursday announced Darnell Nurse had been automatically suspended for one game and Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft fined $10,000 after Nurse picked up instigator and misconduct penalties for his fight with Nic Hague with 50 seconds remaining at the end of Wednesday’s contest.

Shortly afterward, the department also suspended Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo for one game following his vicious two-handed slash on the left arm of Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl late in Game 4.

The good news for Edmonton is that Draisaitl said he is okay and will play Friday. Draisaitl, who went down face-first on the ice after the chop, leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 18 points and 13 goals.

“Yeah, it was ugly,” Draisaitl said before boarding a flight for Las Vegas on Thursday. “That’s a really dangerous slash, you know? I think those are things that have nothing to do with hockey or the game. You can seriously injure someone with a slash like that.”

Draisaitl was asked if it was crucial for the Oilers to be handle to their emotions heading into a crucial Game 5.

“I’m going to continue to play hard,” he said. “I’m not going to do anything stupid about it. I’m going to be smart about it. I’m going to continue to play hard and finish my checks and be physical, but I’ve moved on.”

Vegas fell behind 3-0 in the first period on Wednesday and captain Mark Stone said it’s important for the Golden Knights not to dig themselves another big hole in Game 5.

“We’ve got to find a way to get a better start,” Stone said. “We’ll regroup. Done it in the past. We’ve got to be ready.”

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy was asked why there has been such a wide swing in scores.

“I think it’s urgency levels,” Cassidy said. “The team that lost the previous game seems to have more urgency.

“We put ourselves in a bad spot early (Wednesday). A couple of things we talked about against, specifically, Edmonton: managing the puck, staying out of the (penalty) box. And we didn’t do either of those in the first period well enough.”

McDavid said he expects to get the Golden Knights’ best shot on Friday.

“It’s always disappointing when you lose in the playoffs,” McDavid said. “It feels not very good. I expect them to play a really good Game 5, and I expect us to bring our best, too.”

–Field Level Media

Jesper Fast tipped in the winning goal on an overtime power play as the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New Jersey Devils with a 3-2 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C.

The decisive goal came 7:09 into the extra session when Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s shot was redirected into the net. That put the Hurricanes ahead for the first time in the game.

“There was a lot of screaming going on in that pile,” Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei said of the celebration after the game-winner.

Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns had Carolina’s goals in regulation and goalie Frederik Andersen made 27 save for the Hurricanes, who will have home ice in the Eastern Conference finals, regardless of whether they play Florida or Toronto.

Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who scored more than one goal for only the second game in the series. Akira Schmid stopped 36 shots.

“It’s frustrating, but we had a great year,” Devils center Jack Hughes said after the game. “It definitely sucks that we’re out now, but we have a bright future ahead of us.”

This was the first overtime game of a series in which the Hurricanes won all three of their home games. Carolina improved to 3-0 in overtime this postseason, with Fast ending two of those games.

New Jersey’s Jonas Siegenthaler was sent to the box at 5:36 of overtime for delay of game after sending the puck over the glass to set up Carolina’s man advantage.

The Devils didn’t put a shot on goal for the first seven minutes of the third period. Carolina outshot New Jersey 11-5 in the period for a 31-26 shots advantage through regulation.

Mercer’s goal came with 4:54 remaining in the opening period after the Hurricanes had the best scoring chances. Meier’s pass set up Mercer, who was charging down the right side, for the shot.

Slavin’s goal came 50 seconds into the second period to tie the score as his shot from just inside the blue line made it all the way past Schmid.

Carolina forward Jordan Martinook assisted on Slavin’s goal, and he matched a franchise record for points in a playoff series with 10.

New Jersey went back in front just eight seconds into a power play. Meier knocked in a rebound at 7:15 of the second.

“We had some looks and we had some opportunities to put the game away,” Hughes added. “We had a couple of good efforts in this series, but just not good enough.”

That proved to be true in the final minute of the second period, as Burns tied the score with the second goal by a Carolina defenseman in the frame when he beat Schmid at 19:22 for an unassisted goal.

“It was enormous to go into the third period tied,” Skjei said of Burns’ goal. “Obviously, we didn’t want to go back to Jersey. We wanted to finish it off at home.”

Game 5 was the only contest in the series without an in-game goalie switch.

–Field Level Media

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds will not move forward with his bid to acquire the Ottawa Senators, ESPN and Postmedia reported Thursday.

The movie star and Vancouver Canucks fan was attached to a bid to purchase the team led by the Remington Group, a real estate developer. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed last December that he’d met with Reynolds about his interest in the team.

But ESPN reported that Reynolds requested an exclusive negotiating window and was denied by the league, leading him to pull out.

Previous owner Eugene Melnyk died in March, and his daughters Anna and Olivia Melnyk inherited the franchise. In November, a process for the team’s sale was initiated. Keeping the team in Ottawa is a precondition of any sale. May 15 is the deadline to submit final, nonbinding offers, per ESPN.

Reynolds wasn’t the only interested bidder with star power. Snoop Dogg announced he had joined a bid led by businessman Neko Sparks. Canadian musical artist The Weeknd agreed to be a partner in a group led by Toronto billionaires Jeffrey and Michael Kimel, the Ottawa Sun reported Saturday.

Reynolds and actor Rob McElhenney purchased Wrexham AFC, a club in the fifth tier of English soccer, and produced a Hulu documentary series about their endeavors to turn Wrexham’s fortunes around.

–Field Level Media