The Dallas Stars bring a seven-game winning streak into their home game on Saturday night against the Nashville Predators.
The Stars, currently third in Western Conference with 79 points, stayed hot in their first game following the Olympic break by beating the Seattle Kraken 4-1 in Dallas on Wednesday night.
“I thought we were pretty good coming out of the break. I thought there was good emotion in the game. Thought we picked up where we left off almost, which is nice to see,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I use the kind of wording of the way we want to play ‘with a little fabric in our jersey.’ The physicality, emotion and stuff that you need to win. I thought the guys did that before the break and they brought it tonight too.”
Wyatt Johnston scored twice for his 30th and 31st goals of the season and Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist.
Johnston’s second goal was a power-play effort, to give him 19 power-play goals. That broke the single-season Dallas Stars record, which had been held by Mike Modano.
“It’s a huge honor. I didn’t exactly have that on my radar going into the season but it’s great,” Johnston said. “Obviously, (Mike Modano) did so much for this organization. I think that’s a given just seeing the statue outside. So many awesome players that have played in this organization, for this team, so it’s cool.”
The franchise record is 22, in 1987-88 by Dino Ciccarelli when the team was known as the Minnesota North Stars.
Duchene has a seven-game point streak (11 points on seven goals and four assists).
The Predators also won their first game post break, a 4-2 home decision over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Nashville rallied from a 2-1 deficit with three goals in the third period, which gives them a 1-1-1 mark in their last three.
Ryan O’Reilly broke a 2-2 tie with 3:44 left and Steven Stamkos added an empty-net goal.
“It was great to get a win,” O’Reilly said. “It wasn’t the prettiest game by us, but we found a way and that’s huge. We’re in this race and we need the points. You want to come out and get a big win, and we stuck with it.”
Matthew Wood tied the game 2-2 at 7:12 into the third.
“Huge goal for (Wood),” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “He went down (to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League) and played a little bit, and I thought he had a leg up all week. I thought he had a great week of practice. He’s going to be a really important piece here. I love the projection that he’s on right now, and it was nice to see him get a goal.”
Stamkos’ goal was the 611th of his career. That gives him sole possession of 19th place on the all-time list, passing Bobby Hull, who had 610.
Filip Forsberg also scored for Nashville. It was his 25th goal and he has now reached that mark nine times in his career. It is the second most all-time by a player born in Sweden. Mats Sundin did it 15 times.
