Wyatt Johnston posted the fourth hat trick of his career, including two power-play goals, to lead the Dallas Stars to their fourth straight victory with a 6-1 pounding of the visiting Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Johnston’s three goals give him 16 on the season, including an NHL-best 12 on the power play. He also had an assist. The 16 overall goals ties him for the team lead with Jason Robertson, who had a goal and two assists in the win. Mavrik Bourque and Jamie Benn also scored.
Mikko Rantanen added three assists, and Roope Hintz helped on two.
Casey DeSmith made 15 saves for the Stars. Dallas’ backup goalie is now 6-0-2 in his last eight starts.
Jake Sanderson scored for Ottawa, with assists from David Perron and Nick Cousins. Senators netminder Linus Ullmark saw his personal three-game winning streak end as he only stopped 20 shots.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Bourque, playing in his 100th game, wasted little time in the second to give the Stars a 1-0 lead with 18:02 remaining in the middle period.
Sanderson tied the game with 11:24 left in the second, but Robertson gave the Stars the lead for good 44 seconds later.
Playing in his 400th game, Robertson coaxed Tim Stutzle into a turnover along the boards near the Senators’ goal. The Stars leading scorer skated around to the high slot and beat Ullmark for his 16th goal of the season.
Robertson will hate seeing the calendar flip to December on Monday. The Stars winger finished November with 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) in 15 games.
Johnston took over from there as he scored his first goal with 4:37 remaining in the second, off assists from Rantanen and Robertson. He scored his two power-play goals in the third and added a third point in the period on Benn’s goal.
Benn, 36, playing in just his seventh game this season, had found the net in three of his last four contests.
The Stars welcomed back defensemen Ilya Lyubushkin after the blueliner missed the last six games with a lower-back injury. However, teammate Lian Bichsel left the game with 4:21 left in the second after hitting the boards with an apparent leg injury.
