Johnston scores again and Stars beat Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 4 to even series

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The blast from the point hit Roope Hintz in the right arm, causing him to fall to the ice in pain.

Just seconds later, however, he sent the same puck into the empty net on the other side of the rink to seal the victory.

“That’s how you win championships,” Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger said.

The Stars as a team are showing their mettle, bouncing back from losing the first two games of their NHL playoffs first-round series at home by beating the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights twice in their building, including 4-2 on Monday night.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Dallas.

Evgenii Dadonov, Wyatt Johnston and Ty Dellandrea also scored for the Stars, and Oettinger made 33 saves. Johnston has three goals in the past two games, including the Game 3 winner in overtime.

Michael Amadio and Jack Eichel had goals for the Golden Knights, and Logan Thompson stopped 28 shots. Eichel has scored goals in three consecutive games and has six points in this series.

Both teams were the beneficiaries of goals in the first period the goalies would like to have back.

Amadio squeezed a rebound that trickled past Oettinger with 5:35 left, and 2 1/2 minutes later Dadonov scored from the goal line when the puck went off Thompson’s mask into the net. The Knights outshot the Stars 14-8 in the period.

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That changed in the second when the Stars outshot Vegas 17-6 and scored twice to take a 3-2 lead.

Eichel knocked in a goal off a rebound 3:09 into the period, and Johnston had a power-play goal off a rebound midway through the period to tie it again. The Stars benefited from a bit of good luck when Craig Smith’s shot went off Dellandrea’s chest and into the net with 1:26 left.

Knights coach Bruce Cassidy called Dellandrea’s goal “inexcusable.”

“We can get out of the period 2-2,” Cassidy said. “We stayed too long in the shift. Then we mismanaged the puck. It’s a fortunate play, but they’re putting everything to the net. You’re going to get some of those bounces.”

Dellandrea scored two third-period goals in Game 5 of last year’s Western Conference final to keep the Stars’ playoff hopes alive.

“He likes playing in Vegas,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s a playoff-type player. He doesn’t shrink in the room.”

Content with the lead, the Stars followed the Knights’ playbook from the first two games and focused on playing defense in the third period. Even though Vegas outshot Dallas 15-7 in the third, the Stars repeatedly broke up scoring chances and forced the Knights into difficult shots.

“I thought in the second period we really took control of the game,” DeBoer said. “The play in the third period was just lock it down. You don’t like to sit back that much, but I felt like we were smart like they were in Dallas when they had the lead going into the third.”

Dallas ended any doubts when Hintz buried the empty-netter with 1:22 left.

The Stars have shown they won’t be an easy out. They came to Las Vegas down 2-0 and in Game 4 twice had to rally.

“There’s no panic in our game,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “You knew they were going to come out hard. They’re a good team. We weathered the storm and found a way to win.”

Benn appeared in his 87th playoff game as the Stars’ captain, the most in franchise history. Derian Hatcher, captain of the 1999 Stanley Cup championship team, played in 86 games.

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