Johnston scores in 4th straight, Stars top Kings

DALLAS -- Wyatt Johnston scored for the fourth straight game to help the Dallas Stars defeat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Johnston has 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in the past six games.

Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist, and Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves for the Stars (41-19-9) who had lost two straight.

“Those two guys (Johnston and Harley) might have been the best players on the ice tonight,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “You know their age, so that’s a great sign, especially for this time of year. This is the time of year where some young guys start to get worn down or pushed out a little bit. Those guys are finding another level for us, which is fantastic.”

Kevin Fiala scored, and David Rittich made 25 saves for the Kings (34-22-11), who defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 on Friday and are 5-5-1 in their past 11 games.

“They’re a good team. They skate well, they track back, their defensemen gap well. They make it hard on you, for sure,” Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller said. “I don’t know that we had an odd-man rush tonight, so they kept it clean that way. We gave up too many. There’s a difference right there. It’s easier to get in the zone if you have got an odd man. Give them credit, they played well and they’re a good team. More than that, I don’t know. You just have to play better against them.”

Harley gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 2:28 of the first period. His point shot bounced off the glass behind the net and in off the shoulder of Rittich.

“Just kind of shot it, put the puck on net and good things happen,” Harley said. “We started on time, which is a big key for us. We stuck to our game plan the whole time. We were hard on pucks, we were hard in the three feet along the wall and got the puck and put pucks on net. The simple stuff.”

Craig Smith made it 2-0 at 8:49 with a wrist shot through traffic from the point.

“They were on a back-to-back, but they’ve got some talented players,” Smith said. “I thought we did a good job of staying out of the box with that and limiting turnovers to some of their skill guys especially.”

Johnston extended the lead to 3-0 at 15:15 on a shot from the high slot with Logan Stankoven driving to the front of the net.

“I think we did a good job defending tonight. I think a lot better than the past couple of games defending the middle of the ice,” Johnston said. “I think overall it was a pretty complete game. Past couple of games we’ve had some good periods, but we haven’t strung together a full 60 minutes. I think this was a good step in that direction. In the playoffs, you’ve got to be playing a full 60 minutes every time and can’t afford to take your foot off the pedal at any point in any of the games, so I think that was good.”

Jamie Benn made it 4-0 at 2:30 of the second period with a shot to the top right corner from left face-off circle on a power play.

Fiala cut the lead to 4-1 at 1:11 of the third period when his long shot from above the right circle got past Wedgewood.

“They had some good bounces there,” Kings forward Phillip Danault said. “They had some Grade A’s, some good chances. They buried them and got some good bounces as well. Nothing we can do there.”

The Stars swept the three-game season series against the Kings, outscoring them 13-3.

“We haven’t played good against that team at all so far. We haven’t shown what we’ve got,” Danault said. “Maybe it’s mental. We’ve got to be more ready. Obviously, this is a back-to-back, but we should be better. We were better in the third, so we should be playing that way the whole time.”

NOTES: During first intermission, Dallas unveiled a statue of Mike Modano, the franchise leader in games played (1,459), goals (557), assists (802) and points (1,359). … Harley became the third defenseman in franchise history to score at least 15 goals in a season at the age of 22 or younger, joining Brad Maxwell (18 in 1977-78) and Craig Hartsburg (17 in 1981-82). … Johnston scored the 50th goal of his career. He is the third player in franchise history to reach the milestone before the age of 21, joining Brian Bellows (102) and Modano (57).