NHL Playoffs: Stars Defeat Avalanche 5-1 in Game 4 | 5/13/2024

Dallas fought hard to add to their series lead and took Game 4 with a 5-1 victory against the Avalanche on Monday, May 13th. They only need one more win to make it to the next round of the playoffs, and Colorado needs to figure out a way to take Game 5 to hopefully make it past the second round. Wyatt Johnston scored two goals for the Stars, Casey Mittelstadt scored the lone goal for the Avalanche, and Colorado played without Valeri Nichushkin due to a six-month suspension.

Stars lineup against the Avalanche:

Robertson – Hintz – Stankoven

Benn – Johnston – Pavelski

Marchment – Duchene – Seguin

Dadonov – Steel – Smith

Harley – Heiskanen

Lindell – Tanev

Suter – Lundkvist

Oettinger

Wedgewood

Avalanche lineup against the Stars:

Lehkonen – MacKinnon – Rantanen

Parise – Mittelstadt – Drouin

Wood – Colton – Kiviranta

Duhaime – Trenin – Cogliano

Walker – Makar

Girard – Manson

Johnson – Jones

Georgiev

Annunen

Wyatt Johnston opened the scoring late in the first with 4:23 on the clock to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. He scored with a short-handed goal after forcing a turnover along the goal line by Cale Makar and stuffed in his third opportunity from the edge of the crease. It had been Johnston’s 10th playoff goal before turning 21. Late in the first period, Roope Hintz left the game due to an upper-body injury he sustained because of blocking a shot.

Early in the middle frame at 14:14, Wyatt Johnston struck his second of the night to make it a 2-0 game. Jason Robertson sent him a slap pass from below the left circle, and then Johnston put a one-timer past Alexander Georgiev that deflected in off his side. At 8:36, Miro Heiskanen made it 3-0 with a wrister inside the blue line that went in off Georgiev’s shoulder… Casey Mittelstadt put Colorado on the board soon after to cut the lead to 3-1 when he beat Jake Oettinger to the far side under his glove after curling the puck out from behind.

Evgenii Dadonov extended the Stars’ lead to 4-1 at 10:33 of the final frame when the puck had been kicked to him for a shot from the edge of the crease after Mason Marchment had located the rebound of a point shot by Miro Heiskanen. With 1:50 left in regulation, Wyatt Johnston gave up the birthday hat trick for Sam Steel to strike the empty net for the 5-1 final.

Miro Heiskanen on their win and the game overall, blocking shots, and Wyatt Johnston: “We wanted to take control and have a great start. I think we’ve played great in the first period and I think the second was pretty good to the third; we defended really well there. I think it was a good game overall. We have to keep doing that and take the next one,” – “I mean, everybody’s buying in and blocking shots. That’s a huge thing against that team, a great offensive team, but we’re trying to stay close to them; play quickly and block shots, if you can. That’s the key – It’s unreal, for sure. It’s a lot of fun to watch. He’s only 20 years old, but he still amazes us every time… It’s fun to us.”

Notes:

– Miro Heiskanen recorded a goal and two assists, Sam Steel had both a goal and an assist, and Jason Robertson recorded two assists.

– Jake Oettinger made a total of 26 saves for Dallas, and Alexander Georgiev made a total of 28 saves for Colorado.

– Wyatt Johnston is one of the only two players in NHL history to score a short-handed goal and a power play goal in the same playoff game before turning 21 years old. The only other player is Wayne Gretzky.

– Devon Toews was absent from this game due to illness.