Johnston completes hat trick in OT, Stars rally past Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Wyatt Johnston completed a natural hat trick 20 seconds into overtime, and the Dallas Stars rallied for a 4-3 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Johnston won it with a tap-in at the left post off Roope Hintz’s feed from the right circle on a 2-on-1 rush after Jake Oettinger stopped Shea Theodore’s breakaway attempt on the other end.

The hat trick was Johnston’s second in the NHL.

Mavrik Bourque also scored, and Hintz had three assists for the Stars (32-17-1), who have won three straight and four of five. Oettinger made 25 saves.

“They're a great team, top tier when it comes to shutting it down in the third and grinding out wins,” Oettinger said. “They've been so good at that. It's impressive by the group in front of me, and they never counted themselves out. The guys stepped up huge, with a lot of blocked shots and big plays at the end, and obviously the finish was awesome.”

Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Hertl scored to extend his point streak to 10 games for the Golden Knights (31-15-5), who have lost six of eight (2-4-2). Mark Stone had two assists, and Adin Hill made 24 saves.

“We didn't really push to make it 4-2 as I would have liked,” Stone said. “When you get those 3-2, one-goal leads, you've got to keep pushing to try and put teams away, and we didn't do that tonight.”

Eichel gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 1:54 of the first period, tapping in a centering feed from Ivan Barbashev. It came less than a minute after Barbashev had a goal overturned when he was ruled offside.

“It's a good start,” Barbashev said. “The first one was disallowed, but I feel like we just stuck to it. We just kept pushing, and Jack got a huge goal for us. This is something I think we've needed for a long time.”

Bourque tied it 1-1 at 3:41, scoring from the low slot after receiving a Matt Duchene pass.

Hertl put the Golden Knights back ahead 2-1 at 6:35, banking his shot off Oettinger’s skate.

“He's relaxed a bit in play, then things start going well for you, you naturally become more confident, a little more vocal in the room, etc.,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So, good for him. That's the player we knew we were getting, and he's doing a good job.”

Dorofeyev extended it to 3-1 during a 5-on-3 power play at 3:57 of the second period when his shot went off Oettinger’s right pad.

Johnston cut it to 3-2 with a short-handed goal at 5:04 off Theodore’s giveaway.

Johnston’s second goal of the game then tied it 3-3 at 11:54 of the third period.

“It's huge. It always seems like the games with these guys are kind of whoever's up, whoever scores first ends up winning,” Johnston said. “So, it's great to get that comeback win.”

Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen left the game at 7:56 of the third and did not return after Stone collided headfirst into his left leg.

“I just talked to him, we'll see,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I've coached Mark Stone. He's not a dirty player. He's not trying to hurt anybody. … Just pray that we'll get some pictures, and we'll see.”

NOTES: Johnston became one of eight players in NHL history to complete a natural hat trick in overtime. The only other active players to do so are Evander Kane (Nov. 15, 2023; Edmonton Oilers), Kirill Kaprizov (Feb. 26, 2023; Minnesota Wild) and Hertl (Jan. 8, 2022; San Jose Sharks). Johnston (21 years, 259 days) is the youngest to accomplish the feat. … Hertl became the second player in Golden Knights history to record a point streak of 10 games. Eichel (12 games in 2023-24) is the only other. … Stone (two assists) became the fourth player in franchise history with 200 assists, joining Theodore (261), William Karlsson (226) and Jonathan Marchessault (225).