Stars’ Roope Hintz gets unfortunate injury update after Game 1 beatdown

The Dallas Stars were blown out of their own building in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild — and things aren’t going to get any easier with Roope Hintz remaining on the sideline.

The key forward has been ruled out for Games 2 and 3, head coach Glen Gulutzan told reporters, including The Athletic’s Michael Russo.

It was already expected that the 29-year-old wouldn’t be an option at the American Airlines Center on Monday night, but him already getting ruled out of the third contest of the series is certainly not encouraging.

Hintz suffered a lower-body injury on March 6 against the Colorado Avalanche, and needed to be helped off the ice after a collision with Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon.

The veteran was having a great 2025-26 season before the injury, managing 15 goals and 44 points in 53 games. He also chipped in a goal and four points for Team Finland at the Winter Olympics in Milan, helping his country to a bronze medal finish.

It’s especially disappointing considering how good Hintz has been against Minnesota in his career; he’s amassed five goals and 12 points in just six playoff games against the Wild.

The Stars have already given away home-ice advantage, getting crushed 6-1 in front of the bewildered Dallas faithful two days ago. They’ll need to be much better on Monday, otherwise they’ll be headed to the State of Hockey in a brutal 0-2 hole.

“It certainly didn’t look like a playoff game from our point of view,” Gulutzan said after Game 1, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “You can’t get your game going if you’re not going to win battles. You can take any metric, and if you lose skating battles and puck battles, you’re always on the receiving end of everything negative.”

“Not many positives to be honest,” forward Radek Faksa echoed. “Nobody expected a game like that.”

The Stars have responded well all year long, and it’s one of the reasons they finished the regular-season portion of the campaign 50-20-12 and third place in overall NHL standings. They’ll need another big response to get back in the series on Monday night.

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