Subscribe
Follow Us
Wyatt Johnston has been a key factor in the Dallas Stars advancing to back-to-back-to-back Western Conference Finals — but the 22-year-old has struggled mightily since Round 1 against the Colorado Avalanche in 2025.
Johnston managed just one goal in a six-game victory over the Winnipeg Jets in the second round, and he's still searching for his first point in the 2025 West Final against the Edmonton Oilers.
To make matters worse, the former first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft is a ghastly minus-17 this postseason — worse than any other skater. The only other who is even in double digits is teammate Matt Duchene, who is minus-13.
“I think like the rest of our group, I think he needs to feel the confidence of a puck going in,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said of Johnston's struggles, per NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika. “I think he needs some help with the guys that he’s playing with on the ice. He needs some support there. He can’t do that alone. You know, he’s had some tough assignments so far in the playoffs.”
Although a couple of goals Johnston's been on the ice for have been empty netters, it doesn't change the fact that he's minus-eight at 5-on-5. And he isn't the only one struggling — Dallas has been outscored 31-23 at 5-on-5 as a team, and fifteen Stars skaters have a negative rating, per Cotsonika.
Still, Johnston broke out for 10 goals and 16 points in 19 games in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the squad badly needs him to return to that form with their proverbial backs against the wall.
“He’s a 22-year-old with a lot on his plate, and I think he’s just fine,” DeBoer said.
Stars badly need a victory in Game 4
A win in Game 4 would not only even up the series, but give the Stars home-ice advantage back heading back to Texas for Game 5. But that's going to be easier said than done; Stuart Skinner has allowed just a single goal over the last two games, while Jake Oettinger watched six go by him in Game 3.
Article Continues Below
Edmonton just looks potent right now, while Dallas is having an impossibly hard time finding the back of the net aside from a five-goal outburst in the third period of Game 1.
If the Stars are unable to find a victory, they'll be on the wrong side of a 3-1 stranglehold against a team that is showing no signs of slowing down — and one that boasts two of the world's best players in Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.
“I’ve had some looks that I feel like I should be able to finish, but I haven’t,” Johnston admitted, per Cotsonika. “McDavid or Draisaitl, they’re two of the best players in the world, so you need to just be really smart when you’re out there against them and make them defend, which is definitely something I can be better at, making those guys play in their own end if I’m out against them.
“They’re not going to do a whole lot of damage if they’re having to stop and defend.”
It'll be interesting to see if Johnston can turn his game around and help the Stars even up the series — or whether Dallas will be facing elimination at American Airlines Center on Thursday night.
Puck is set to drop just past 8:00 p.m. ET from Rogers Place on Tuesday.
