Johnston’s late goal pushes Stars to 4-2 win over Canadiens

By The Associated Press on December 23, 2022.

DALLAS (AP) – Wyatt Johnston scored Dallas’ third power-play goal with five minutes remaining and the Stars rallied past the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Friday night.

Roope Hintz scored twice on primary assists from Jason Robertson, and Joel Kiviranta added an empty-netter with 17 seconds left. Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars, who are 4-1-1 in their last six games.

Johnston put his own rebound past Jake Allen, giving the rookie a three-game goal streak. At 19 years and 223 days old, he’s the youngest Dallas player to score in three consecutive games.

Fourth-line forwards Jake Evans and Michael Pezzetta scored for the Canadiens, who have lost five of six (1-4-1). Allen stopped 32 shots.

Evans deked Oettinger and scored just before sliding into the crease 4:04 into the game to give the NHL’s worst power play a goal with two seconds left on the man advantage. Evans hadn’t scored since last April.

The Canadiens, coming in at 13.6 per cent on the power play, had only one power-play goal on 30 chances in their previous nine games. Evans’ goal came against the league’s No. 4 penalty kill at 83.1 per cent.

Pezzetta, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for two games, blasted a wrist shot off Oettinger’s stick and off the crossbar to give Montreal a 2-0 lead at 2:24 of the second period.

Hintz pulled the Stars to 2-1 at 15:19 of the second. Dallas tied it 2-all at 2:27 of the third on the same sequence – Hintz deflecting a shot by Robertson on the power play.

Pezzetta, with an assist on Evans’ goal, had the first multipoint game of his two-year NHL career.

Montreal’s unlikely source of goals came on a night when coach Martin St. Louis placed the team’s top two scorers, Cole Caufield (19 goals, 28 points) and Nick Suzuki (15 goals, 31 points), on different lines.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Play the first of two consecutive games in Florida on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Stars: Visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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