Heika's Take: Johnston, Hintz push Stars to third period comeback win

The Stars have talked all season about finding different ways to win hockey games, and they discovered another on Friday.
Dallas rallied back from a 2-0 deficit on the strength of three power play goals and took a 4-2 win over the Montréal Canadiens.
The game was important for a lot of reasons.

One, it pushed the Stars to 20-9-6, the sixth best record in the NHL. Two, Jason Robertson became the quickest player to reach 50 points in 35 games since the team moved to Texas in 1993. Three, 19-year-old Wyatt Johnston became the youngest Stars player to score in three consecutive games.
It was a stocking full of good times for a team who has found plenty of reasons to celebrate the holiday season.
"It was a tough game," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said of facing a Canadiens team that came out strong and put the Stars in a hole. "Last game before Christmas, it's always tough to keep your team focused on the task at hand. I give them credit. They came ready to play. They put us in a hole, and we had to scrape and scratch. You've got to win all kinds of different ways in this league. Tonight, it was our power play. That was an important two points."

Montréal scored on the power play four minutes into the game and appeared to have the Stars in real trouble when they took a 2-0 lead early in the second. However, Dallas fought back, received a power play goal from Roope Hintz, which set up the third period, a frame where Dallas has been dominant this season. The Stars scored three times on Friday in the final 20 minutes, including another power play goal from Hintz, a power play goal from Johnston, and an empty-netter from Joel Kiviranta.
Dallas leads the NHL in third period goals with 49. The Stars have trailed going into the third on 11 occasions, coming out with points in six of those games. They are simply never out of a game.
"We've been a team that has played really well in the third period, and we've come back in a lot of games," said Johnston. "We just kind of get better as the game goes on, we start to roll in the third period, and it becomes kind of infectious. We just start to feel good and feel like we're going to score a few goals."

The Stars did that again. Dallas had a 28-12 advantage in shots attempts in the third period and did the hard work to draw the power plays. Hint redirected passes from Robertson on the first two, and Johnston worked for the rebound on the third - the game-winning goal, with five minutes left to play.
"He's just heating up here now," DeBoer said of Johnston, who has 10 goals on the season. "What do you say about the kid. It's not a flash or fluke, we've seen it every day here. We're starting to get used to it."
Likewise, the pairing of Robertson and Hintz continues to impress. Hintz now has 16 goals on the season, while Robertson has 26 assists. The 23-year-old winger hit the 50-point mark and displayed his intelligence and versatility. On both plays, Robertson was able to slip a smart shot into the slot where Hintz redirected it.
"He has a computer in his head, so it's nice to see what he does," Hintz said of Robertson.

The wily hockey technician explained his thinking: "They're playing pretty up tight on me, and I don't want to get my shots blocked, so when that happens, things open up, guys get open and you've just got to execute."
Robertson has been in a goal slump and said he has been trying to shoot too fast at times, so the fact he showed so much patience is impressive.
"I have rushed a couple of shots these past couple of weeks, and I really wanted to focus on if I have time, make the right play, and not try to force anything," he said. "Guys are getting open. I liked their movement today."

The power play has shown tremendous movement throughout the season. Dallas currently ranks fifth in power play success at 27.4 percent and is finding ways to make key plays. While the first unit scored the first two goals, the second unit scored the game-winner. It was an impressive display of the team's depth.
"The guys who are supposed to score have scored, and we've gotten some depth scoring, guys like Johnny have chipped in," DeBoer said. "We've gotten contributions from a lot of people. When you get that and you have goaltenders like we have, you have a chance to win every night."
And a chance for a very Merry Christmas.
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 Twitter @MikeHeika.