DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston saw just a little opening and figured why not take a shot on the opening shift.
That snap decision became the quickest goal ever to open a playoff game for the Dallas Stars, who got that score from Johnston only 9 seconds in and went on to a 6-2 win in Game 5 of their first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.
“Got lucky,” Johnston said. “I’s the biggest cliché. I hate to say it, but when you get pucks on net good things happen. Sometimes you see something, and you try it. You never know.”
That was the first goal this postseason for the 21-year-old Johnston, who added another one and also had an assist as the Stars took a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6 is Thursday night in Colorado, where the Stars wrapped up their second-round series against the Avs last season.
Johnston’s record-setting starter goal came on a shot from the immediate left of the net. The 21-year-old forward already in his 43rd career playoff game was skating toward the back wall and passing the red line when he took the shot that ricocheted off goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
“It was nice to throw something on net and go in,” Johnston said.
Blackwood saw the puck coming and thought it was in a good spot — “It just found a fluky little hole,” he said.
The previous fastest goal for the Stars to open a playoff game was Jeff Halpern scoring 24 seconds into Game 2 of a first-round series against Vancouver on April 13, 2007.
Only seven other players in NHL history have scored within the first 9 seconds of a playoff game. The record was set by Don Kozak for the Los Angeles Kings, when he scored 6 seconds into a quarterfinals game against Boston on April 17, 1977.
Johnston got his assist in the final minute of the first period, which came on Thomas Harley’s goal that Blackwood initially blocked with his right arm. But the puck popped up in the air and came down behind the goalie, bouncing off his back and into the net.
“I’ve had bad goals go in before. It sucks that there were two in the first period in a playoff game,” Blackwood said. “That’s unfortunate, but there’s not much you can do about it now. You just try and reset.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
