Wyatt Johnston scored 2:28 into double overtime Wednesday night to lift the Dallas Stars past the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in Game 3 and give Dallas a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. The goal ended a long, grinding night that stretched into Thursday morning and sent the Stars home with the edge after three games.
Johnston said the win was huge, and the Stars needed it. Dallas has relied on game-breakers in this series, with Jason Robertson scoring in each of the first three games and adding two assists, Johnston posting three goals and two assists, Matt Duchene collecting two goals and three assists and Mikko Rantanen adding one goal and two assists. When the game tilted late, Johnston finished it.
There was also work elsewhere on the ice that did not make the score sheet but shaped the result. Miro Heiskanen returned in Game 1 after a lower-body injury that cost him more than a week of practice, then logged 43 minutes, 5 seconds Wednesday night into Thursday morning, including 9:54 of penalty-kill time against Minnesota’s power play. That kind of load underscores why Dallas has treated him as central to its bounce-back from a 6-1 loss in the opener.
The Wild have made life difficult in other parts of the series, but one number from the middle of the ice tells the story of how Dallas controlled the margins: Minnesota did not have a single shot on goal from the inner slot in more than 92 minutes of play. That kind of defensive squeeze, paired with an effective power play, a resilient penalty kill and the kind of edge Glen Gulutzan described when he said there is always an unsung hero somewhere, has helped Dallas seize control after dropping Game 1.
The Stars are trying to make a fourth straight deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and this series has already shown why they believe they can. Minnesota brought a superstar winger on each of its top two lines and two of the best defensemen in the league, but Dallas has answered with depth, special teams and a defense that can take over a long game. Game 4 now becomes the pressure point for the Wild, who have to find a way to solve a Stars team that looks increasingly comfortable in the tightest moments.