Stars score early, defeat Avalanche in Game 5

DALLAS -- Wyatt Johnston scored two goals, including the first just nine seconds into the game, and had an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 6-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at American Airlines Center on Monday.

The Stars lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 will be in Denver on Thursday.

“I'm not surprised by our response (after a 4-0 loss in Game 4 on Saturday). We've got a proud group. I think they feed off people doubting them,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “There were a lot of people before the series started and then after last game (doubting them). We know what was kind of the feeling in the hockey world about where we were at, and I think our guys wanted to prove that there's a lot of pride in our group, and there's a lot of playoff experience, and I think they showed all those things tonight."

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which is the No. 2 seed from the Central Division. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves.

“[Scoring is] one of the things that we as a team, and myself, we haven’t really done yet. Four games we’re still in a 2-2 situation, but we knew as top guys we needed to step up a little bit and play a little bit better defensively and try to get on the score sheet a little bit more," Rantanen said. "But like you said, it’s not all about that, but I think it’s going to help our team, for sure. I think Game 3 (a 2-1 overtime win) we took a good step. The whole team played a really good game, and then we kind of went back a couple of steps in Game 4. I think everybody played a good game tonight.”

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Martin Necas had two assists for Colorado, which is the No. 3 seed from the Central. Mackenzie Blackwood allowed five goals on 18 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Scott Wedgewood, who made eight saves.

“You can't have guys having bad nights this time of the year,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You've heard me say it all along, it's going to come down to playing good teams that finish in similar spots in the standings, so you’ve got to go play your best hockey for two weeks in order to win, right? If you've got good players having bad nights, it's not your best hockey. (When) you're firing on all cylinders, like Game 3 and Game 4, things start to look a lot better.”

Johnston gave the Stars a 1-0 lead nine seconds into the first. Off the opening face-off, he chased down a dump-in to the right of the net and scored with a sharp-angled shot that deflected in off the side of Blackwood.

The goal is tied for the fifth-fastest to begin a game in Stanley Cup Playoff history.

“Just [saw] a little opening. Figured, 'Why not? Let's try it' and got lucky enough it went in,” Johnston said. “It's probably mostly luck. It's the biggest cliche, I hate to say it, but when you get pucks on net, good things happen. Just sometimes you see something and you try it and you never know. I don't want to say if you try it enough it'll go in, but it's always nice to throw something on net and it go in."

Thomas Harley made it 2-0 at 19:15. His shot from the high slot was stopped by the blocker of Blackwood, but the rebound popped into the air and landed on the goalie's back before rolling into the net.

“Just trying to get good results is probably the toughest thing (to balance). You just want to play great all the time, and sometimes it doesn't go your way. So, you just have to try and stay the course,” Blackwood said. “You don't want to lose, but at the same time, you can't judge yourself based on every little thing that happens. You have to trust that you know you have a good game, good foundation, and you know bad stuff may happen, but you can bounce right back and play well again.”

Rantanen extended the lead to 3-0 with his first goal of the series at 1:12 of the second period. He finished off a pass from Hintz on a 2-on-1.

“We knew they were going to come out with their best effort, no doubt. I didn't think we had the best execution to start the game, and even throughout the game, to be honest,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “There were some plays where we made almost uncharacteristic mistakes here and there, but stuff's going to happen. ... So, we're going to clean that up here come Thursday.”

Artturi Lehkonen cut the lead to 3-1 at 12:11 when he deflected Necas' one-timer from the top of the crease.

MacKinnon made it 3-2 at 14:38. He warded off Matt Duchene at the point before scoring with a shot from the high slot that beat Oettinger blocker side.

Johnston responded for Dallas to make it 4-2 at 16:48. He one-timed a cross-slot pass from Duchene from the bottom of the left circle for a power-play goal.

Mason Marchment extended the lead to 5-2 at 18:32, deflecting Alexander Petrovic's shot from the right point.

“We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole, down 3-0 to start the second, but started scratching and clawing our way back into it. I thought we were starting to play really well,” Landeskog said. “... There's no quit in this group. We had a good pushback in the second. Obviously, to get it within one wasn't enough as a group."

Hintz scored into an empty net at 17:55 of the third period for the 6-2 final.

“It helps when you get the momentum right away,” Hintz said. “I think we’ve got to just play [Game 6] how we played tonight, simple game and work their [defense], get the pucks in and just try to keep the momentum. I think that’s the biggest one.”

NOTES: Johnston has three career multigoal playoff games, which is tied for the third-most by a player age 21 or younger in NHL history. Only Sidney Crosby and Pierre Turgeon had more with four each. ... MacKinnon recorded his 68th playoff assist, which moved him past Rantanen for the third-most in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques history. Only Joe Sakic (104) and Peter Forsberg (101) had more.