Dallas Stats centre Wyatt Johnston of Toronto, Ontario recorded his first career National Hockey League hat trick on Tuesday. He accomplished the feat in a 7-6 Stars overtime win over the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.
Johnston’s first goal was an all-Canadian goal at 8:48 of the second period which tied the game at three at the time. Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jamie Benn of Victoria, British Columbia and Ty Dellandrea of Toronto, Ontario picked up the assists. Johnston then pulled the Stars within one goal (6-5 San Jose) on another all-Canadian goal with six minutes and 19 seconds left in the third period. Logan Stankoven of Kamloops, British Columbia and Benn picked up the assists. Then with four minutes and 18 seconds left in the game, Johnston tied the game at six from Benn and Miro Heiskanen.
Johnston ended up with a career-high five points as he assisted on two goals by Stankoven. Johnston and Stankoven were two of three Canadians to score for the Stars as the other was Benn. Stankoven and Benn had multi-point games as they each had four points. Stankoven had two goals and two assists and Benn had one goal and three assists. Benn won a gold medal for Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
In 64 games this season, Johnston has 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points. He is a +4 with 28 penalty minutes, eight power-play points, two shorthanded points, two game-winning goals, 161 shots on goal, 247 faceoff wins, 33 blocked shots, 39 hits, 26 takeaways and 23 giveaways. Johnston’s shorthanded points were shorthanded goals which came in back-to-back Stars wins in November. The first shorthanded goal came unassisted in a 3-2 Stars win over the Winnipeg Jets on November 11, and the second shorthanded goal came from Benn in an 8-3 Stars win over the Minnesota Wild on November 12.
Johnston’s first game-winning goal also came in the Stars win over the Wild on November 12. Johnston put the Stars up 4-2 from Tyler Seguin of Brampton, Ontario and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Matt Duchene of Haliburton, Ontario at 2:34 of the second period. Like Benn, Duchene won a gold medal for Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Johnston’s second game-winning goal came on February 24 in a 2-1 Stars win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Benn and Heiskanen had the assists at 8:15 of the second period to close out the scoring.
Dallas leads the Central Division with 85 points. They have a record of 38 wins, 17 regulation losses, and nine losses in extra time for 85 points.
