Heika’s Take: Stars’ top dogs take center stage in 6-2 rout of Avalanche

The hockey gods are finicky, but they’re mostly fair.

The Stars on Monday received their best luck of the playoffs, but they then showed they deserved the good fortune by playing their most complete game and taking a 6-2 win in Game 5 at American Airlines Center.

That gives Dallas a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven First Round playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche with a chance to punch a ticket to the Second Round in Game 6 on Thursday in Denver. That’s a pretty impressive feat when you consider the Avalanche dominated Game 4 and the Stars are still playing without injured superstars Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson.

“It felt good,” said forward Mikko Rantanen, who had a goal and two assists. “It was a good bounce back from last game. We were not happy with how we played in Colorado during Game 4. We had a good meeting this morning and answered well.”

Stars coach Pete DeBoer said before the game that his best players needed to respond – but that he had confidence that they would. Wyatt Johnston did just that, scoring nine seconds into the game - the fastest goal in franchise playoff history – to give Dallas a rare lead. The lads in Victory Green had only led for 62 seconds in the first four games of the series, so scoring early was huge.

"Just a little opening. I figured, 'Why not? Let's try it,' and got lucky enough it went in,” Johnston said of an odd-angle shot that bounced in off of goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. “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."

Dallas then added to that as Thomas Harley whipped a shot on goal in the final minute of the first period that bounced off the blocker of Blackwood, shot high into the air, and then dropped behind his back and into the net. It was another sign that hard work really does create good luck, and that was a sign the Stars needed to see.

“I never envisioned a series where those guys don’t show up and contribute,” DeBoer said. “The guys that got on the board tonight – Wyatt Johnston, Roope Hintz\] and Rantanen obviously we are getting to know, and Harley. I thought [Jamie Benn was absolutely outstanding tonight. Maybe he didn’t score but played against [Nathan] MacKinnon almost every shift. We just have some great leadership in there.”

Johnston assisted on the Harley goal, so he was quickly on his way to breaking out of his early 2025 playoff scoring slump, and then the combo of Hintz and Rantanen tallied a goal in the second period to create even more positive juju for those who were snakebit. Rantanen spent nearly a decade with the Avalanche and was traded twice this season, landing with the Stars in March. He is among the NHL’s all-time points per game leaders in the playoffs but was limited to just one assist in the first four games against his old team, so getting this goal was a nice weight off of his shoulders.

"I think it’s one of the things as a team and myself that we haven’t really done yet in four games, we were 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,” Rantanen said. “It’s not all about that, but it’s going to help our team for sure.’’

Hintz, too, found some solace in his role and clearly looked more comfortable as the game went on. He finished with a goal and an assist and put five shots on goal.

“Of course, it helps when you get more games together,” Hintz said of his chemistry with Rantanen. “I think if we just keep working and playing the game in a simple way, it’s going to come and you can make some plays and things kind of start opening up.”

All of that said, the early lead was not indestructible. Colorado scored on an Artturi Lehkonen deflection 12 minutes into the second and then made it 3-2 on a beautiful shot by MacKinnon two minutes later. The Mackinnon goal was especially concerning because he has a tendency to heat up at times. But Dallas instead showed an immense amount of spine.

Johnston banged home a power play goal off a great pass by Matt Duchene two minutes after the MacKinnon goal, and then Tyler Seguin had a grinding shift to get a puck to Alexander Petrovic at the point two minutes after that. Petrovic put a great shot on net and Mason Marchment tipped it in for a 5-2 lead heading into the second intermission.

It was a beautiful display of what has made the Stars great all season. Duchene had been held without a point in the first four games, but was artistic in finding Johnston. Seguin missed most of the season, but was relentless in controlling the puck and finding Petrovic, who spent most of the season in the AHL, for a shot that was tipped by Marchment, who has had penalty problems in recent games.

It was a fantastic display of how resourceful and resilient this team can be.

"That was huge,” DeBoer said. “Again, a response. There was no panic. They grabbed that momentum there in the second period, and that obviously could have led into some other things, but we were on tonight. Everybody was dialed in, and there was a confident feeling on the bench regardless of the fact that it was now 3-2. We were going to respond."

Johnston said it felt good because the Stars know how response goals can be deflating.

"We've had a couple of times where we've scored and they've scored right after,” Johnston said. “I think it's nice to do that back at them and respond and get back to the game no matter what the situation is."

Now, the Stars have a chance to go to Ball Arena and close the series out. It’s a fantastic opportunity but also an incredible challenge in a series that has been very back and forth.

"That's the challenge,” DeBoer said. “As good as they were in Game 4, we're going to get that same game from them again. I'm sure of it. The challenge for us is to make sure we don't take a deep breath here like we did after Game 3, and just hope to win. We've got to show up there and have a version of how we played tonight, and hopefully earn a win there."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.