Johnston and Stars beat Wild 4-2 in
Game 2 to even their first-round playoff series
[April 21, 2026]
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston scored goals on a ricochet and a
roller, Matt Duchene had a tiebreaking power-play goal and an
assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 in Game 2
on Monday night to even their Western Conference first-round playoff
series.
The Stars went ahead to stay with a power play winding down about
four minutes into the penalty-filled second period when Duchene made
a quick pass to Mikko Rantanen and then got the puck back just in
front of the crease. That made it 2-1 in the kind of physical game
expected between the Central Division rivals.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 28 shots, including a
point-blank attempt by Kirill Kaprizov with 2 1/2 minutes to play
when the Wild were on a power play after Dallas was penalized for
too many men on the ice.
Brock Faber scored his first two playoff goals and Quinn Hughes had
two assists for Minnesota, which won the opener 6-1 on Saturday but
missed a chance in its 15th playoff appearance to take a 2-0 series
lead for the first time.
“From our end anyway, it was a playoff game. I thought they played
two, we played one,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “So it’s more
of what we look like, more of the way we are, but you can still see
how tight it is.”
Jason Robertson, who like Johnston had 45 goals in the regular
season, also scored for Dallas. Nils Lundkvist had two assists.
“It was good just to show each other what we can do, and not get
kind of pushed out of the series,” said Robertson, who has scored in
both games. “We’re going to try to ride the momentum into Game 3.”
The series shifts to Minnesota on Wednesday night.
Johnston, the 22-year-old center already in his fourth postseason
and 58th playoff game, put Dallas up 1-0 midway through the first on
his shot that ricocheted off the boards behind the net and then went
off the left skate of goalie Jesper Wallstedt and just inside the
post. Lundkvist got the primary assist for pushing the puck with his
skate back to Johnston.
“Guess you try to hit the net," Johnston said. “Good things happen
when you do that.”
[to top of second column] |
Dallas Stars' Colin Blackwell (15), Oskar Bäck (10) and Wyatt
Johnston (53) celebratee Johnston's goal in the first period of Game
2 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series against
the Minnesota Wild Monday, April 20, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony
Gutierrez)
The Stars were on another power play in the final
minute when Johnston — from a crowd in front of Oettinger — knocked
the puck to the other end, with it rolling and swerving just inside
the right post of an empty net.
Wallstedt, the rookie who has started both games ahead of
playoff-experienced Filip Gustavsson, also had 28 saves.
“He was solid through the whole game,” Wild coach John Hynes said.
Right after Duchene and Rantanen combined on the power-play goal,
another scuffle broke out in the corner and both of them ended up in
the penalty box. That gave Minnesota a man advantage, though
Oettinger kept Dallas ahead with a glove save on a shot by Boldy
during the ensuring power play. Minnesota finished 0 for 4 on the
power play.
“A hard-fought game by both teams,” Hynes said. “Obviously a
tight-checking, hard-fought game by both teams, and you know, we won
the first one, they won the second one.”
The second period ended right after Marcus Foligno got a double
minor for roughing, when he basically put interfering Thomas Harley
in a headlock and took him down to the ice near the boards.
Already without forward Mats Zuccarello because of an upper-body
injury after he had three assists in the series opener, when he took
an elbow, the Wild lost another forward. Yakov Trenin took a
crushing blow at center ice from Colin Blackwell late in the first
period. After staying face-down on the ice momentarily, he was
helped off and never returned.
Hynes said only that Trenin had an upper-body injury.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
