In Denver, four different skaters hot for goals for the Dallas Stars in a 5-1 win over the Avalanche on Monday night. 
The win gives the Stars a -1 series lead headed home for Game 6.
Wyatt Johnson hit for a double in the Dallas win.
Jake Oettinger made 24 saves in the win.
“We know they’re a fast team. We know what we have to do. Everyone in our dressing room knows how to play the right way, and the right way is successful for us these whole playoffs,” Dallas’ Jason Robertson said. “And I think it’s just contagious on our bench. I think one guy sees it, another guy sees it, and you just get rolling and rolling. And it’s great to see, like I said, how contagious it is whenever we do everything the right way. Good things happen.”
Johnston potted his first of the game with a shorthanded strike at 15:37 of the opening stanza. He forced a turnover below the goal line and put in a rebound of his own shot for the 1-0 lead.
Johnston collected his double on a power play at 5:46 of the middle frame, making it 209 to the Stars.
“It’s been a crazy, crazy couple of years. I don’t think if you were telling me I’d be in [this] position, playing in the NHL playoffs for the Stars, if you were to tell me that, I guess when was that, 2020 and COVID, I don’t know if I’d believe you,” Johnston said. “It’s been a pretty cool a couple of years, and I’m just really thankful and just so happy to have met some amazing people on the way and just have a chance to be with the Stars.”
Dallas pushed the advantage to 3-0 on a marker form Miro Heiskanen at 11:24 of the second, scoring off a shot from the blue line.
“We wanted to take control and have a great start. I think we played a great first period, and I think second was pretty good, too,” Heiskanen said. “We defended really well there. It was, I think, a good game overall. We have to keep doing that.”
Casey Mittelstadt was the lone striker for the Avs, his second period goal at 12:35 to make it 3-1.
“I don’t think we were playing our game. We’re complicating our plays,” Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin said. “We can’t win two in the next game on Wednesday, so you know, it’s about [winning] one game and [making] sure we’re focused for Wednesday. We beat them there this year. We beat them in the playoffs (in Game 1). So, we have confidence in that, but we have to simplify our game a little bit.”
That was it for the Colorado offense.
“We looked frozen in the first period. We were not moving, we were not skating. It looked like we were exhausted and we should be the rested team,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought we got better in the second, but it was still a struggle. Slow pace, slow thinking, lack of execution. I didn’t feel like the guys were not trying, but just everything felt like it was a struggle tonight.
“Tonight, we were atrocious.”
In the third period. Evgenii Dadonov scored midway through the frame to give the Stars a 4-1 lead. He hit off a rebound of a shot by Heiskanen with the puck falling free at the crease.
“We got a group in there that doesn’t want to cheat each other,” DeBoer said. “I mean, Wyatt Johnston has a chance at a hat trick with the empty net and passes off to Sam Steel so Sam Steel can get a goal. You know, when you have those type of unselfish things going on in your group, it’s really contagious. I’m just really proud of our approach.”
Sam Steel hit an an empty net at 18:10 for the 5-1 final count on the scoreboard.
Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves for the Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from the Central.
The Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin was scratched after entering Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Stage 3 includes suspension of the player for a minimum of six months. Upon release form the program he will be eligible to apply for reinstatement.
“Val is obviously struggling with something,” Bednar said. “I have two thoughts. Yeah, it [stinks] for our team. It hurts our team, there’s no question. He’s a great player.
“I’ve gotten to know Val as a person and I’ve gotten to know him as one of our teammates, and I want what’s best for him. I want him to be happy and I want him to be content in his life, whether that is with our team or not with our team. I want the best for him and his family. I think all of our guys are the same. We hope that he can find some peace and get help. That’s the other side of it. Hockey is not life and death, even though we treat it like it is. Val is a big priority, and our team is another one. Now they are separated. They’re not together.”
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