DALLAS — The Dallas Stars delivered a strong home performance against the Colorado Avalanche in their first-round playoff series, taking a 3-2 lead with a dominant 6-2 victory in Game 5.
Wyatt Johnston got the Stars off to an explosive start, scoring just 9 seconds into the game, marking the quickest goal in Dallas Stars playoff history. Johnston was a key contributor throughout the night, adding a second goal and an assist to his impressive start.
“We did probably our best job generating chances tonight and it showed. … Just a huge win,” Johnston commented on the team`s performance.
Coach Pete DeBoer expressed confidence in his team`s resilience following a tough 4-0 loss in Game 4. He stated, “I’m not surprised by our response. We’ve got a proud group. The last game, we played a poor game. It happens. In a seven-game series you`re going to have a night where you`re off. And we were off and we owned it and we fixed it, and we responded.”
Mikko Rantanen also had a productive game for the Stars, recording his first goal of the postseason and adding two assists, contributing significantly to the win.
`We knew as the top guys we needed to step up a little bit and play a little bit better defensively and try to get on the scoresheet a little bit more,` Rantanen said, emphasizing the need for key players to elevate their game.
Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday night in Colorado. The Stars will aim to clinch the series on the road, a location where they successfully closed out their second-round series last season.
While Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon managed to score goals just 2 1/2 minutes apart in the second period to bring the Avalanche within one goal at 3-2, Johnston quickly responded with his second goal of the night on a power play, with an assist from Rantanen, effectively halting Colorado`s momentum.