Johnston scores hat trick, Stars ease past Senators

DALLAS -- Wyatt Johnston scored a hat trick and also had an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 6-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

It was Johnston's first hat trick of the season and fourth in the NHL.

“You see a lot of my goals and lot of goals around the League are scored around the net. You need to get there to have those opportunities," Johnston said. "I think that goes along with just how great the players we have out there are, and they can make plays. For me, it’s just getting [to the slot] and just being ready to shoot it whenever we have it because the guys can find me pretty easy.”

Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen had three assists, and Roope Hintz had two assists for Dallas (17-5-4), which has won four in a row and is 5-0-1 in its past six games. Casey DeSmith made 15 saves.

“Probably our most complete game for me of the year,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “The big four: goaltending was great, [power play] was great, the [penalty kill] was real solid, and I thought our 5-on-5 play was probably the best of the year defensively. When you get all four of those things working, it’s hard to beat.”

Jake Sanderson scored for Ottawa (12-9-4), which has lost three of its past four games (1-3-0). Linus Ullmark made 20 saves.

“It wasn’t pretty. This is one of those games you’ve got to turn the page and get ready for the next one,” Ottawa forward Ridly Greig said. “It’s the end of a (seven-game) road trip here, (we) got to find some legs for the next one (at the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday).”

Mavrik Bourque gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 1:58 of the second period when Ilya Lyubushkin’s shot from the right point deflected in off him at the left post.

Sanderson tied the game 1-1 at 8:36, scoring five-hole from the left circle after Shane Pinto forced a turnover by Jamie Benn along the right boards.

“I thought after two periods we were down and we had some plays that we didn’t like, but we were still in the game at that point. We had another period to play and they came out and kind of just took over the game,” Sanderson said. “They won the special teams battle tonight. I thought our power play honestly kind of drained some of our game. Not sharp, not crispy. You never know, if we get one on the power play and get some momentum, the game changes.”

Robertson put Dallas back in front 2-1 at 9:20. After Tim Stutzle lost control of the puck along the right boards, no Senators player went to pick up Robertson, who skated slowly into the slot before beating Ullmark glove side.

Robertson has scored a goal in nine of his past 10 games (13 goals during span).

Johnston extended the lead to 3-1 at 15:33, scoring on a one-timer in front off a backhand pass from Rantanen, who was behind the net.

“I liked our first two periods. I think we gave up 10 shots at 5-on-5 in the first two periods and were probably a little unlucky to be down 3-1,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We’d probably like to have that one back that Robertson scored. I thought if we could get a little life in the third with that first power play it could have changed the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough and we took a penalty and they scored. That was probably the game right there.”

Johnston made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 2:52 of the third period, and Benn pushed it to 5-1 at 7:24 by tapping in a backdoor pass from Rantanen.

Johnston completed the hat trick at 15:41, scoring his second power-play goal from the low slot off a short pass from Hintz to make it 6-1.

It was Johnston's 16th goal of the season and his League-leading 12th on the power play.

“It’s fun to be there with him. He helps us a lot. He’s been a finisher this year, which we’ll take it,” Rantanen said of Johnston. “He doesn’t need many chances on the power play to score. Today, I think he had two chances and two goals. He’s very good in tight areas, soft hands, and he can shoot the puck. Really important on our power play.”

NOTES: Lyubushkin returned after missing the previous six games with an lower-body injury. He had one assist in 19:08 of ice time. ... Robertson played in his 400th NHL game. ... Sanderson has 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in 25 games this season. He is the sixth defenseman in Senators history to record 20 points in a season in 25 or fewer games, joining Thomas Chabot (15 games in 2018-19), Erik Karlsson (four times, the fewest being 19 games in 2015-16), Wade Redden (19 games in 2005-06), Jakob Chychrun (25 games in 2023-24) and Norm MacIver (25 games in 1992-93).