Dallas Stars' Colin Blackwell (15), Oskar Bäck (10) and Wyatt Johnston (53) celebrate Johnston's goal in the first period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series against the Minnesota Wild Monday, April 20, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) un

By The Canadian Press

Johnston and Stars beat Wild 4-2 to even first-round playoff series

Apr 20, 2026 | 10:18 PM

DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston had two unusual goals, Matt Duchene scored a tiebreaking power-play goal and had an assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 in Game 2 on Monday night to even their first-round Western Conference series at a game apiece.

The Stars went ahead to stay with a power play winding down about four minutes into the penalty-filled second period when Duchene made a quick pass to Mikko Rantanen and then got the puck back just in front of the crease. That made it 2-1.

Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 28 shots, including a point-blank attempt by Kirill Kaprzov with 2 1/2 minutes to play when the Wild were on a power play after Dallas was penalized for too many men on the ice.

Brock Faber scored his first two career playoff goals for Minnesota, which won the opener 6-1 on Saturday but missed a chance in its 15th playoff appearance to take its first-ever 2-0 series lead.

Jason Robertson, who like Johnston scored 45 goals in the regular season, also scored for Dallas. Nils Liundvist had two assists.

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Game 3 is Wednesday night at Minnesota.

Johnston, the 22-year-old centre already in his fourth post-season and 58th playoff game, put Dallas up 1-0 midway through the first on his shot that ricocheted off the boards behind the net and then went off the left skate of Wallstedt and just inside the post. Lundkvist had the primary assist when he pushed the puck with his skate back to Johnston.

The Stars were on another power play in the final minute when Johnston — from a crowd in front of Oettinger — knocked the puck to the other end, with it rolling and swerving into the empty net.

Wild rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt, who has started both games ahead of playoff-experienced Filip Gustavsson, also had 28 saves.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Johnston and Stars beat Wild 4-2 to even first-round playoff series

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