FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Stars began these NHL playoffs without standout defenseman Miro Heiskanen and top goal scorer Jason Robertson, and still made it to their third consecutive Western Conference final.
Both returned in the second round, with Heiskanen coming back in the middle of the six-game series against Winnipeg after missing 3 1/2 months with a left knee injury. Now, coach Pete DeBoer gets to prepare for a West final rematch against Edmonton with something he hasn't really had in a long time.
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Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) blocks a shot as center Mason Appleton (22) helps against pressure from Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) in the first period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Winnipeg Jets' Nino Niederreiter (62) and Dallas Stars' Jason Robertson, right, compete for control of the puck in the third period of Game 3 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Dallas Stars' Tyler Seguin (91), Thomas Harley (55) and Cody Ceci (44) celebrate after Harley scored in overtime in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen warms up before Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets in Dallas, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
"Well, first time since January we’ve had any kind of version of our full lineup,” DeBoer said Monday. “You never want to go into a fight with one arm tied behind your back. Really, the first two rounds, that’s what we had, and to our group’s credit, they found a way to grind through those series. But it’s nice not to have to be in that type of situation.”
Dallas hosts the West opener Wednesday night, a week after the Oilers wrapped up their second-round series in Game 5 with a 1-0 overtime win at Vegas.
Stars players got their second consecutive day off Monday, when they would have been playing Game 7 at Winnipeg if they hadn't finished off the Jets with a 2-1 overtime win Saturday night.
"We just went through two of the best teams in the league, so we're comfortable and we’re getting, I feel, healthier and more up to speed with the guys that we put back in,” DeBoer said.
Robertson, who like Heiskanen was drafted by the Stars in 2017 and is 25, suffered a lower-body injury in the regular-season finale and missed the first-round series against Colorado. After 80 points (35 goals) while playing all 82 games for the third regular season in a row, he had only one assist, along with eight shots on goal and 19 total shot attempts, in six games against the Jets.
“He’s not a young, immature player anymore. He’s not looking for excuses or making excuses,” DeBoer said. “He’s looking in the mirror, looking for solutions. Been very coachable. So I see a world of maturity in him.”
Heiskanen needed surgery after getting injured on a big hit from Vegas captain Mark Stone on Jan. 28. The Stars defender missed the last 32 regular-season games and the first 10 in the playoffs before Game 4 against Winnipeg, when he had an assist in the 3-1 win.
“Listen, he took the proper amount of time. He wasn’t rushed back, he didn’t rush back,” DeBeor said. “It took him a few games to get his timing, but I’m not surprised he’s back where he’s at right now.”
After playing nearly 15 minutes over 19 shifts in his first game back, Heiskanen increased to 18 1/2 minutes and 22 shifts in Game 5, then more than 23 1/2 minutes and 29 shifts in the series finale.
Heiskanen said he felt “pretty normal” after the series against the Jets, and was getting more comfortable with every period and every game.
Dallas has gone with 11 forwards and seven defensemen since Heiskanen returned, but could soon go back to dressing 12 forwards.
Either way, DeBoer said Heiskanen returning to the defensive mix has been “game-changing” for the Stars.
"All of a sudden you’re slotting guys, you’re playing them less minutes, they’re more effective, they’re playing in better matchup situations,” DeBoer said. “Adding a guy like that back into your lineup slots everybody back properly.”
That includes Thomas Harley, who had the series-clinching OT goal against the Jets. He got extended ice time while Heiskanen was out, going from 22 1/2 minutes to nearly 25 minutes a game while playing about the same number of shifts.
“We loaded this guy up, so I think he understands," DeBeor said. "He’s a better, more effective player with a little bit less and he also understands of course the importance of Miro back there for us to win.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) blocks a shot as center Mason Appleton (22) helps against pressure from Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) in the first period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Winnipeg Jets' Nino Niederreiter (62) and Dallas Stars' Jason Robertson, right, compete for control of the puck in the third period of Game 3 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Dallas Stars' Tyler Seguin (91), Thomas Harley (55) and Cody Ceci (44) celebrate after Harley scored in overtime in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen warms up before Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets in Dallas, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded eight others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.
University President Christina Paxson said she was told that all 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, authorities said.
Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches for hours late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon.
The suspect was a male in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police.
Some witnesses told them the suspect, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O'Hara said.
Investigators were not yet sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom. Outer doors of the building were unlocked, but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Providence's mayor said.
Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the U.S. Last spring the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.
“The unthinkable has happened,” Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said.
Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place remained in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside or not return home until it is lifted. Streets that normally bustle with activity on weekends were eerily quiet.
“We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the engineering building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side.
Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she was waited for a couple of hours.
Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where six were in critical but stable condition, according to Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Another was in critical condition and one was stable, she said.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.
The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.
Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.
Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.
President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”
Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation's most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.
Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Martha Bellisle in Seattle; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
Students are escorted by law enforcement officers to a building at Brown University after a shooting, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I.. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A law enforcement official walks past articles of clothing on a sidewalk near an entrance to Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Law enforcement officials carry rifles while walking on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Law enforcement officials walk near an entrance to Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Law enforcement officials carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
In this image from video, law enforcement officials gather outside the Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
FILE - The logo for Brown University is displayed at the school's campus in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
