The Dallas Stars used two strikes from Roope Hintz to take down the Washington Capitals at the AAC on Monday night.

Coming into the night, Washington had won nine straight games away from the nation’s capital.

“This was a chance to make a statement against the best team in the League,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said.

“You’re down men, you’re down some guys. You’re short-handed. You’re playing the best team in the League and the hottest team in the League.

Your best players have to be your best players tonight, and I thought ours were. Roope, [Jason Robertson], [Jake Oettinger], Miro [Heiskanen], [Esa Lindell]. We needed that tonight.”

Hintz tied the game at one at 13:28 in the second period when he buried a power play feed from Jamie Benn in the slot.

Lian Bichsel scored his second goal in his third NHL game at 17:35 when he flipped a wrister off Caps defenseman Rasmus Sandin into the net.

“It’s not an easy job out there. I’m just getting into the League, but I think I’m doing a good job keeping it simple and helping the team,” Bichsel said.

“I’m fighting for a job here, and doing all I can here to make their decision hard. Every day is a new opportunity for me, and every day I have to show them that I’m worth playing here.”

Hintz put the game away at 14:58 when he once again buried a low shot from outside the right faceoff dot.

Jake Oettinger had another sensation night at the AAC in the Stars’ big win.

“They’re really going to be a tough team to beat at the end of the season. They’re heavy and [have] good leadership, a lot of those guys know what it takes to win it all.

They’ve got great goaltending and not surprising how good they are,” Oettinger said. “It’s a great test. Everything had to be good for us in order to win. Our [penalty kill] stepped up huge and got some big goals to win this one.”