{"id":214594,"date":"2025-10-15T06:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T06:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214594\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T06:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T06:38:09","slug":"special-teams-wyatt-johnstons-scoring-streak-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214594\/","title":{"rendered":"Special teams, Wyatt Johnston\u2019s scoring streak and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Stars<\/a> returned to American Airlines Center on Tuesday night after nearly five months away.<\/p>\n

The Stars continued their hot start to the regular season, defeating a third consecutive Central Division opponent. Dallas beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 and advanced to 3-0-0. <\/p>\n

The Stars held a 3-0 lead entering the third period, but Minnesota closed the gap on two power-play goals. Dallas managed to escape in regulation. Two empty-netters made the score look more lopsided than it was.<\/p>\n

Here are five takeaways from the Stars\u2019 home-opening win:<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

They’re back! See photos from the Dallas Stars’ home opener against the Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n

\"DallasView GalleryPower play helps Stars build comfortable lead<\/p>\n

The Stars were poised for a new look on their power play with assistant Neil Graham taking over the unit after a promotion from Cedar Park, and new head coach Glen Gulutzan being known as one of the top power play minds in the league.<\/p>\n

Its potential was on display Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The Stars went 2 for 2 on the power play.<\/p>\n

Late in the first period, Wyatt Johnston showed his puck handling skills and weaved through Wild defenders before going top shelf on Filip Gustavsson. The Stars were awarded another power play with under a minute left in the first period, and Matt Duchene scored 91 seconds into the second. His pass bounced off Minnesota defenseman Zach Bogosian\u2019s skate and into the net.<\/p>\n

The Stars\u2019 power play was just 1 for 7 with two shorthanded goals allowed in its first two games against Winnipeg and Colorado. The group made good progress Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have had really good looks the past two games, too, but I think it\u2019s good that it\u2019s clicking and we got a couple,\u201d Stars forward Roope Hintz said. <\/p>\n

Stars\u2019 lead fades again, as PK can\u2019t stop red-hot Wild<\/p>\n

Gulutzan said Tuesday morning he warned his players to avoid taking penalties against the Wild, who were 8 for 17 on the power play in their first three games of the season. Minnesota had scored seven power-play goals total over its past two matchups.<\/p>\n

The Wild continued their success Tuesday night to crawl back into the game.<\/p>\n

The Stars held a three-goal advantage entering the third period and had already killed two penalties. <\/p>\n

But in the third, Alexander Petrovic was called for instigating in addition to fighting Jake Middleton. Petrovic dropped the gloves with Middleton after he had delivered a hit to teammate Duchene that sent the Stars forward down the tunnel<\/a>. Minnesota capitalized with a textbook tip-in by Matt Boldy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked the response from Petro, certainly,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cI didn\u2019t like the hit. I thought that it was high. Usually, my history here is they usually run on the side of more aggressive in their call there, but they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Later in the period, Colin Blackwell was called for holding, and Kirill Kaprizov scored Minnesota\u2019s second power-play goal of the night.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second time this season that the Stars have seen a lead of three or more goals reduced to just one goal down the stretch. Minnesota held a 16-4 shot advantage in the third. In both games, special teams played a big part.<\/p>\n

The Stars\u2019 penalty kill is now 10 for 13 to start the year. <\/p>\n

Wyatt Johnston extends goal streak to three <\/p>\n

Johnston\u2019s power play goal marked the third straight game the 22-year-old has scored to start the season.<\/p>\n

After scoring in each of Dallas\u2019 first two games, Johnston showed poise and patience on a chaotic power play, finishing a beautiful goal to extend the Stars\u2019 early lead.<\/p>\n

Johnston is coming off back-to-back 30-goal campaigns and has improved his point total in each of his first three NHL seasons. He was a standout in training camp and preseason, and many felt he was prepared to take a step further in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

A goal-per-game pace early this season is a solid place to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not shocking for anyone that\u2019s in his room or around him,\u201d Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said. \u201cHe just wants to be one of the best players in the world and works really hard. I think the best is yet to come which is scary for other people because of how good he already is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensemen continue to join scoring<\/p>\n

The Stars needed more scoring contributions from their defensemen than they received a year ago, especially with defensemen such as Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen, who are capable of being major point producers.<\/p>\n

But a defenseman found the net for the third straight game Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Esa Lindell opened the scoring 5:37 into the game, as Roope Hintz found him trailing. Lindell is known for his defensive and penalty-killing abilities but has sneaky offensive skills that he uses sparingly.<\/p>\n

After goals from Nils Lundkvist, Harley and now Lindell, the Stars will welcome any more scoring they can get from their defensemen. Miro Heiskanen hasn\u2019t even joined that list yet.<\/p>\n

Jake Oettinger posts another 30-save day<\/p>\n

The Stars\u2019 starting netminder ended last season on a low note when he was benched in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, but he\u2019s started this season better than Dallas could\u2019ve hoped.<\/p>\n

Despite allowing four goals in each of the first two games, Oettinger was a big reason Dallas won both, especially the shootout win at Colorado where he made 35 saves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, he only allowed goals on the power play and made 38 saves.<\/p>\n

That also included eight saves in the first three minutes, as Oettinger\u2019s poised start allowed Dallas to settle in before taking the first lead a few minutes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like him to not see a ton and control the play and not give him anything, but it\u2019s great when he\u2019s there to back us up,\u201d Johnston said. <\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas Stars, who still offer the best sports ride in town, roll past Wild in home opener <\/a><\/p>\n

There was pregame pomp and then goals aplenty as Dallas kept its perfect start to the season going.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/a>See the 2 Stars players who comforted Jake Oettinger after he got benched in the playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahead of the Stars\u2019 home opener, Oettinger revealed new details about the night that followed the benching against Edmonton.<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Stars returned to American Airlines Center on Tuesday night after nearly five months away. The Stars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,7521,90685,131570,575,131569,85,1974,131568],"class_list":{"0":"post-214594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dallas-stars","11":"tag-matt-duchene","12":"tag-miro-heiskanen","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-roope-hintz","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-stars","17":"tag-wyatt-johnston"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}