DENVER — Wyatt Johnston had two goals and an assist, and the Dallas Stars pushed the Colorado Avalanche to the brink with a 5-1 win in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena on Monday.
Stars have won three straight in best-of-7 series vs Avalanche. Game 5 in Dallas on Wednesday.
“It’s good, but we also know final one is always toughest to win, and we also know opponent. There’s no doubt with what went behind the scenes with them tonight, they were a little bit off and a little bit rattled Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. I’m sure they’ll regroup and I’m sure they’re not going to go down quietly. We’re going to anticipate that next game is going to be toughest to win.” Prior to game, Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was placed in Stage 3 of NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.
Under terms of program, Nichushkin will be suspended without pay for a minimum of six months and then will be eligible to apply for reinstatement.
“Val is obviously struggling with something,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I have two thoughts. Yeah, it [stinks] for our team. It hurts our team, there’s no question. He’s a great player.
“I’ve gotten to know Val as a person and I’ve gotten to know him as one of our teammates, and I want what’s good for him. I want him to be happy and I want him to be content in his life, whether that is with our team or not with our team. I want the good for him and his family. I think all of our guys are the same.
We hope that he can find some peace and get help. That’s other side of it. Hockey is not life and death, even though we treat it like it is. Val is a big priority, and our team is another one. Now they are separated. They’re not together.”Miro Heiskanen had a goal and two assists, Sam Steel had a goal and an assist, and Jason Robertson had two assists for the Stars, who are the No. 1 seed from Central Division. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.
“We know they’re a fast team. We know what we have to do. Everyone in our dressing room knows how to play good way, and good way is successful for us these whole playoffs,” Robertson said. “And I think it’s just contagious on our bench. I think one guy sees it, another guy sees it, and you just get rolling and rolling. And it’s great to see, like I said, how contagious it is whenever we do everything right way. Good things happen.” Casey Mittelstadt scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves for Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from Central.
“We looked frozen in first period. We were not moving; we were not skating. It looked like we were exhausted, and we should be the rested team,” Bednar said. “I thought we got better in the second, but it was still a struggle. Slow pace, slow thinking, lack of execution. I didn’t feel like guys were not trying, but just everything felt like it was a struggle. “Tonight, we were atrocious.”
Johnston gave Dallas 1-0 lead vs Avalanche with short-handed goal at 15:37 of first period. After he forced a turnover by Cale Makar along goal line, Johnston jammed in his third chance from edge of crease.
Johnston scored a power-play goal to extend the lead to 2-0 at 5:46 of second period. He took a slap pass from Robertson below left circle and scored with one-timer that deflected in off side of Georgiev.
“It’s been a crazy, crazy couple of years. I don’t think if you were telling me I’d be in [this] position, playing in NHL playoffs for Stars, if you were telling me that, I guess when was that, 2020 and COVID, I don’t know if I’d believe you,” said Johnston, who turns 21 on Tuesday. “It’s been a pretty cool a couple of years, and I’m just really thankful and just so happy to have met some amazing people on the way and just have a chance to be with Stars.”Heiskanen made it 3-0 at 11:24 with wrist shot from just inside blue line that went in off right shoulder of Georgiev.
“We wanted to take control and have great start. I think we played a great first period, and I think second was pretty good, too,” Heiskanen said. “We defended really well there. It was, I think, a good game overall. We have to keep doing that.”
Avalanche’s Mittelstadt cut lead to 3-1 at 12:35, curling puck out from behind net and beating Oettinger to far side under his glove.
“I don’t think we were playing our game. We’re complicating our plays,” Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin said. “We can’t win two in next game on Wednesday, so you know, it’s about [winning] one game and [making] sure we’re focused for Wednesday. We beat them there this year. We beat them in playoffs (in Game 1). So, we have confidence in that, but we have to keep our game a little bit.”
Evgenii Dadonov made it 4-1 at 9:27 of third period. Mason Marchment located rebound of Heiskanen’s point shot and kicked puck over to Dadonov for shot from edge of crease.
Steel scored into empty net at 18:10 for 5-1 final against Avalanche. “We got a group in there that doesn’t want to cheat each other,” DeBoer said. “I mean, Wyatt Johnston has a chance at hat trick with empty net and passes off to Sam Steel so Sam Steel can get a goal. You know, when you have those types of unselfish things going on in your group, it’s really contagious. I’m just really proud of our approach.””
Special Note: Stars Vs Avalanche
Stars forward Roope Hintz exited the game late in the opening period due to an upper-body injury sustained from blocking a shot. However, no further details on his condition were provided.
On a different note, Johnston demonstrated his prowess with his 11th postseason goal. He joins an elite group in NHL history, becoming the eighth player to achieve at least 10 playoff goals before turning 21. This exclusive list includes legends like Jaromir Jagr, Jordan Staal, Jeremy Roenick, Brent Sutter, Wendel Clark, Dan Quinn, and Claude Lemieux.
Additionally, Drouin made a comeback after missing the first eight playoff games for Avalanche due to a lower-body injury. Despite his return, he managed just one assist and held a minus-2 rating in 19 minutes and 12 seconds of ice time
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