Wyatt Johnston scored a power-play goal with 7:50 left in double overtime to lift the Dallas Stars to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series on Wednesday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Matt Duchene and Jason Robertson finished with a goal and two assists apiece for Dallas, which grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Johnston and Mikko Rantanen each tallied one goal and one assist.
Marcus Johansson, Joel Eriksson Ek and Michael McCarron scored one goal apiece for Minnesota.
Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger stopped 28 of 31 shots to win the marathon contest.
“That was awesome,” Oettinger said of the victory. “I’m just so proud of the guys, especially the penalty killers. So many huge moments — blocks, just everything. It takes everything from everyone. So many guys stepped up huge. When you leave it all out there with guys you love playing with, it’s really fun.”
Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt allowed four goals on 36 shots.
Minnesota forward Matt Boldy was asked whether the team felt frustrated with its power play, which finished 1-for-7.
“Absolutely not,” Boldy said.
Johnston provided the winning goal on a deflection. Miro Heiskanen fired a shot toward traffic in front of the net, and Johnston redirected it for his third goal of the series.
An early penalty by Minnesota paved the way for Dallas to grab a 1-0 lead on the power play 1:25 into the first period. Robertson zipped a pinpoint pass to Rantanen, who punched in a backhand shot.
The Stars increased their lead to 2-0 with 6:12 to play in the first period. Robertson kept the puck on a two-on-one rush and ripped a wrist shot beneath Wallstedt’s glove.
The Wild got on the scoreboard on a power-play goal with 1:40 left in the first period. Johansson fired a shot from the slot that deflected off a pair of Stars defenders and into the net.
Minnesota evened the score at 2-all with 15 minutes to go in the second period. Boldy weaved through the Dallas defense with the puck and slid a pass to a wide-open Eriksson Ek, who capitalized with a one-timer.
The Wild seized a 3-2 lead with 2:35 remaining in the second period. McCarron sprinted into the offensive zone and buried a shot from the slot for his first career playoff goal.
Dallas responded on the power play to make it 3-all with 9:42 to go in the third period. Rantanen waited until Wallstedt was out of position and fed a pass to Duchene, who scored on a one-timer from the left side of the crease.
–Field Level Media
