DALLAS (AP) — Rookie center Wyatt Johnston scored his 24th goal and the Dallas Stars ended their regular season with a 1-0 victory over St. Louis on Thursday night, then waited to see if they would win the Central Division title.
The Stars (47-21-14) won their sixth game in a row to finish with 108 points, putting them three points ahead of Colorado for the division lead. The Avalanche were still playing their home finale when Dallas finished, and also had a game Friday night at Nashville.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger had 25 saves for his fifth shutout of the season. He stopped four shots in the final two minutes when St. Louis pulled its goalie for an extra skater.
St. Louis (37-38-7) was already eliminated from the playoff contention, but the loss in its finale also snapped the franchise record of consecutive winning seasons at 14. The Blues hadn’t had a losing season since 2007-08. The NH’s longest active streak is Pittsburgh’s 17 in a row, though the Penguins missed the playoffs as well.
The 19-year-old Johnston, who played all 82 games, initially took a shot that deflected off a skate before Evgenii Dadonov’s had a shot that ricocheted off the right post. Johnston knocked the rebound past Jordan Binnington 3:45 into the third period for his third goal in two nights against the Blues.
Johnston’s 24 goals are the most of a Stars rookie since James Neal also had 24 in 2008-09. He has the most goals for a teenager in the franchise since Mike Modano’s 29 as a 19-year-old rookie in 1989-90.
Binnington stopped 33 shots while playing in his 61st game, a single-season career high. He withstood several flurries of shots, including in the opening minutes when he turned away a short-hander.
NOTES: Stars forward Mason Marchment played for the first time since March 13 after missing 14 games with a lower body injury. Coach Pete DeBoer said it was “a chance to get his timing, get some contact, get all those things you can’t replicate in practice. .. .It’s an important step for him.”
UP NEXT
Blues: Season done after missing the playoffs for only the second time in 12 years.
Stars: Will open the playoffs at home early next week.
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