Johnston has 2 goals, Stars hold off Sharks

SAN JOSE -- Wyatt Johnston scored twice for the Dallas Stars in a 5-3 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday.

Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and Justin Hryckowian and Jamie Benn also scored for the Stars (23-7-5), who have won two straight. Esa Lindell and Mikko Rantanen each had two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 34 saves.

"We have a veteran team. It wasn't our best effort. They outplayed us for stretches in this game. They just keep coming," Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We do have to learn a few things from this one. This could've gone the other way without [Oettinger]."

Collin Graf scored twice, Shakir Mukhamadullin had a goal, and Macklin Celebrini had two assists for the Sharks (17-15-3), who had their three-game winning streak end. Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves.

"I thought we played pretty well," San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "We just gave them a couple there, the first two out of our structure and D-zone, and one on the power play there. [We] had our opportunities."

Hintz gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 12:25 of the first period. Rantanen fed a pass from below the goal line to Hintz in front, where he put a shot past the right skate of Nedeljkovic.

"I think we read good off each other out there. That helps a lot because you can know where the next play [is]," Hintz said.

Sharks forward Zack Ostapchuk appeared to tie it 1-1 at 15:28 when he deflected a point shot from Timothy Liljegren under Oettinger's glove. However, the goal was overturned after an official review determined Ostapchuk's stick hit the puck above the crossbar before going in.

Johnston made it 2-0 at 17:38 after taking a cross-ice pass from Miro Heiskanen and burying a wrist shot from the slot over Nedeljkovic's glove.

Mukhamadullin cut the deficit to 2-1 at 1:43 of the second period. Ty Dellandrea won a face-off back to Mukhamadullin, who sent a wrist shot from above the left face-off circle that deflected off the right skate of Dallas defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and through Oettinger's pads.

Johnston scored his second goal on the power play at 8:40 to push the lead to 3-1. Rantanen one-touched a pass from Hintz to Johnston in the low slot, where he put a snap shot over Nedeljkovic's right shoulder.

"It's great. It's not the easiest League to score in. Just trying to get to those spots and keep shooting the puck," Johnston said. "It's awesome playing with some awesome players who can get you the puck when you're open."

Graf made it 3-2 at 16:44. Celebrini sent a pass from the left corner to Graf in front, and after his first attempt rebounded off Oettinger, he put the second shot in past the left pad.

"It was a set for him to go forward there, and I was just trying to go to the back post," Graf said. "I just sort of stayed there because he still had the puck."

Hryckowian extended the lead to 4-2 at 19:17. Nedeljkovic's pass attempt from behind the net went directly to Hryckowian in the right circle, where he shot into the open net before Nedeljkovic could get back into the crease.

Graf's second goal pulled San Jose to within 4-3 at 4:32 of the third period. He collected Igor Chernyshov's pass from the goal line as he crashed the net and finished the play by scoring five-hole on Oettinger.

Benn scored into an empty net at 18:42 for the 5-3 final.

NOTES: The Stars (51 points) became the second team to reach 50 points this season, joining the Avalanche (24-2-7, 55 points). They required their third-fewest games in franchise history to hit the mark in a season (35 games), behind 2015-16 (33 games) and 1998-99 (33 games). ... Rantanen (751) passed Olli Jokinen (750) for the fifth-most points by a Finnish player in NHL history. ... Johnston has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past seven games. ... Celebrini is on a four-game point streak (three goals, seven assists) and has 13 points in his past six games (four goals, nine assists). ... Sharks defenseman John Klingberg had his five-game point streak end (five goals, three assists).