- Wyatt Johnston scored twice as the Stars beat the Wild 4-2 in Game 2 to even the first-round series 1-1
- Jake Oettinger made 28 saves after a rough Game 1, and Matt Duchene added a power-play goal
- Read below for Johnston’s place in Stars history and how Dallas answered the Game 1 flop
The Stars needed a response after their Game 1 flop against the Wild. They got one from Wyatt Johnston.
The 22-year-old center scored twice Monday night at American Airlines Center, and Dallas bounced back to beat Minnesota 4-2 in Game 2 of their Western Conference First Round matchup. The win evens the best-of-seven series 1-1 heading to St. Paul for Game 3 on Wednesday.
Johnston opened the scoring at 8:58 of the first period. His slap shot from above the right circle deflected off Danila Yurov, caromed off the end boards, and banked in off Jesper Wallstedt’s arm. Not pretty. Definitely counted.
He added an empty-netter with 49.7 seconds left to seal it, rolling one from distance that swerved just inside the right post.
“You’ve already seen in this series a ton of goals just from getting pucks to that area,” Johnston said. “Get the puck there and good things happen when you do that.”
The night also put him in Stars lore. Per NHL.com, Johnston became the second Stars/North Stars player age 22 or younger to reach 20 career playoff goals, joining Steve Payne, who finished with 24. Johnston turns 23 in May.
Matt Duchene buried a power-play goal in the second period, and Jason Robertson tipped in a Nils Lundkvist point shot in the third. Brock Faber scored twice for Minnesota in his first career playoff goals, but Jake Oettinger was the reason none of it mattered.
Oettinger stopped 28 of 30 after getting tagged for five in Game 1 against his hometown team.
“I just tried to leave my mark on the game,” Oettinger said. “I wanted to step up and be better than I was in Game 1, and I was happy I was able to do that.”
Head coach Glen Gulutzan liked what he saw from the full group.
“A lot more connectivity. We looked at the goals. We know what happened there, studying these things for a long time. But a lot of it was battles and better awareness of what they were trying to do and taking it away. We were just a little quicker,” Gulutzan said.
Game 3 goes Wednesday night at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
