Johnston tied it 1-1 at 10:55 with a power-play goal, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Matt Duchene and Heiskanen. Heiskanen’s pass from above the right circle found Duchene behind the goal line, where he set Johnston up for a snap shot from the slot.

It was Johnston’s League-leading 23rd power-play goal of the season, which surpassed Dino Ciccarelli (22) for the most in Dallas/Minnesota North Stars franchise history.

“For me, just trying to do what I can to help the team win. Obviously, guys out there have been so good at finding me in the middle or what it may be,” Johnston said. “Like on that goal there, great play by (Duchene), and just everyone to kind of open them up and find those holes. You want to convert when you get a look. Come playoff time, you can’t expect to get the same looks as you get game one to 40 in the year. You’ve just got to keep working and not get frustrated and try (not) to do too much.”

Hryckowian gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 16:48 of the first when he chipped in the rebound of Colin Blackwell‘s shot from the high slot.

“It’s one of those ones you probably don’t deserve to win,” Duchene said. “I actually thought our third (period) was pretty good. I don’t think we were at our best for 60 (minutes), and they had a really good game. They’re a good team. It’s always tight against them. They’re desperate right now for points. They outplayed us, I think, tonight. They had closer to their A game than we did. We had a good push in the third. First was OK, second wasn’t great, and you just can’t not play that many good minutes against a team like that and come out with a win usually.”

Barbashev tied it 2-2 at 9:10 of the second period with a power-play goal. Brett Howden‘s cross-crease pass found him at the right post for the sharp-angled shot that beat DeSmith.

“Felt like a playoff game, to be honest,” Barbashev said. “I think we controlled the game for the most part. We started the first period with quite a few mistakes, but I think we got rid of them in the second and third. Just kept pushing. Probably one of the better games all season long against a really good team. Huge win and everyone’s happy.”

Smith gave Vegas a 3-2 lead at 16:22 of the third period. He swept the rebound of Mitch Marner‘s shot past DeSmith’s right pad.

“We got through the third period. They really had a push like five minutes into the third period, couple of extended shifts in our end. We got through it and didn’t panic, caught our breath,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Got some saves from (Hill) in that stretch. Scored first, so I liked that part. They got a couple, so it didn’t deter us. I thought it was one of our better periods in terms of possession and territorially being the better team.”