{"id":472650,"date":"2026-02-26T08:24:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/472650\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T08:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:24:34","slug":"wyatt-johnston-answers-the-call-as-stars-down-kraken-to-keep-positive-momentum-rolling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/472650\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyatt Johnston answers the call as Stars down Kraken to keep positive momentum rolling"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stars<\/a> returned from the Olympic break more beaten down than most other teams in the league. Seven Stars went deep in the tournament. Mikko Rantanen<\/a> and Radek Faksa<\/a> were injured, and Roope Hintz returned sick. None of the three played in Wednesday\u2019s 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken, which was Dallas\u2019 first game back.<\/p>\n

Dallas needed one of its more well-rested players to step up in their absence and carry on a six-game win streak the Stars finished on before the break. Wyatt Johnston<\/a> answered the call.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old scored twice in the win \u2014 once late in the first period and again in the second period on the power play \u2014 to pass the 30-goal mark for the third consecutive season. He also set a Dallas Stars record for most power play goals in a season with 19<\/a>, passing Mike Modano\u2019s 18 scored in 1993-94.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a pretty impressive guy to pass,\u201d Stars forward Matt Duchene said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a statue out front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dino Ciccarelli holds the franchise record, scoring 22 goals for the Minnesota North Stars in the 1986-87 season. With 24 games remaining this season, Johnston is well on track to pass his record.<\/p>\n

Johnston kicked off Dallas\u2019 scoring late in the first before the Stars scored three goals in a 4 \u00bd minute span early in the second period. Duchene and Sam Steel added Dallas\u2019 other two goals, with Duchene continuing his hot streak from before the break where he had six goals in his last six games. Steel scored off a rebound on the rush, and Seattle challenged the goal for goaltender interference, but the call of a good goal on the ice stood. That led to a power play where Johnston scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought there was good emotion in the game,\u201d Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. \u201cI thought we picked up where we left off almost, which was nice to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kraken answered with one goal in the third period from Ryker Evans, but the Stars\u2019 sizable lead held. <\/p>\n

The Stars outshot the Kraken 32-19, and goaltender Casey DeSmith finished with 18 saves.<\/p>\n

Dallas returned defenseman Lian Bichsel to the lineup<\/a> for the first time in three months. He suffered a lower-body injury on Nov. 30 and needed surgery. In his first game back, Bichsel played 13:34 with one shot, two blocked shots and two hits.<\/p>\n

Forward Arttu Hyry also made his season debut for Dallas after being called up from the Texas Stars Wednesday morning to replace the injured Olympians. He played 10:25 and had three shots on goal.<\/p>\n

The Stars have two days off before facing the Nashville Predators at home Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Wyatt-led W: See photos from Dallas Stars’ victory over Seattle Kraken at American Airlines Center<\/p>\n

\"DallasView Gallery<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Stars returned from the Olympic break more beaten down than most other teams in the league. Seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[2322,147,5,4188,270,4,1716,2686,234,5318,43,197,1531],"class_list":{"0":"post-472650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-kraken","8":"tag-american-airlines-center","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-kraken","12":"tag-mikko-rantanen","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-roope-hintz","15":"tag-seattle","16":"tag-seattle-kraken","17":"tag-seattlekraken","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-stars","20":"tag-wyatt-johnston"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116135977518820434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}