Wyatt Johnston scored two goals as the Dallas Stars bounced back with a 4-2 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Monday night in Game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Matt Duchene finished with a goal and an assist for Dallas, which evened the best-of-seven series at 1-1. The set will shift to Saint Paul, Minn., for the next two games, starting with Game 3 on Wednesday night.
Jason Robertson added a goal for the Stars, Nils Lundkvist logged two assists. Goaltender Jake Oettinger stopped 28 of 30 shots for the victory.
“His ability to bounce back in games is pretty impressive,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said about Oettinger, who allowed a handful of goals in the series opener. “(It) just goes to show how mentally strong he is.”
Brock Faber scored both goals for Minnesota, on assists from Quinn Hughes. Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt allowed three goals on 31 shots.
“You have two really good teams that are highly competitive, and I think you saw that tonight,” Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes said. “Don’t think it’s a surprise. I thought, for us, we put together two highly competitive games and could have won two. But we only won one. So gather some information out of this game and then get ready for Game 3.”
Dallas opened the scoring on an unlikely goal 8:58 into the first period. Johnston fired a slap shot wide right that ricocheted off the end boards and banked in off Wallstedt.
The Wild evened the score at 1-all less than three minutes later. Faber weaved through traffic and flicked a wrist shot from the slot for his first career playoff goal.
The Stars grabbed a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal with 15:58 left in the second period. Mikko Rantanen slid a pass toward the front of the crease for Duchene, who punched in a one-timer to put Dallas back on top.
Dallas grabbed a two-goal lead with 12:51 left in the third period. Lundkvist fired a wrist shot from the point, and Robertson deflected the puck into the net.
The Wild quickly responded to pull within 3-2 with 10:13 to go. Faber took a pass from Joel Eriksson Ek and beat Oettinger on his stick side for his second goal of the game.
Johnston added an empty-net goal with 49.7 seconds left to seal the victory.
Minnesota forward Yakov Trenin exited the game and did not return after absorbing a crushing check from Stars forward Colin Blackwell at center ice in the first period. The Wild played the rest of the contest with 11 forwards instead of 12, which forced coach John Hynes to shuffle some of his lines.
The Wild also played without forward Mats Zuccarello, who was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. Bobby Brink made his playoff debut in Zuccarello’s place.
–Field Level Media
