‘He Wants To Win’: Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston Extend Point Streaks To Five Games In Dallas Stars’ Win Over San Jose Sharks

DALLAS — Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston each had 2 assists Saturday night, and both pushed their point streaks to five games. Their four helpers all came on the power play as the Dallas Stars beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 at American Airlines Center.

Over the five games, Rantanen has 3 goals and 4 assists. Johnston has 1 goal and 7 assists in the same stretch.

Both have been skating with Jamie Benn, who scored the 999th point of his career Saturday. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan pointed to Benn carrying pucks down the ice.

“I think Jamie’s playing great hockey,” Gulutzan said. “Offensively, he’s making plays and taking pucks down the ice. He’s playing some good hockey for us. That’s why he’s with [Rantanen] and [Johnston], and I thought that line’s been good and effective.”

Mikko Rantanen Sets Up Robertson And Talks Shop With Harley

Rantanen’s first assist came at 16:51 of the first period. From the opposite circle, he slid a pass across to Jason Robertson, who snapped it over the glove of Alex Nedeljkovic for a 3-1 lead. His second came on Thomas Harley’s one-timer at 14:30 of the second, which stood as the winner.

Through 17 games, Rantanen has 9 goals and 12 assists. His 21 points lead the Stars, and his 9 goals are tied with Robertson for the team lead. He also took two minor penalties Saturday.

Harley played 6:23 on the power play Saturday, filling the first-unit spot of Miro Heiskanen, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. It was the second straight game Heiskanen has missed.

“Me and Mikko talked,” Harley said. “He’s talkative. …He wants to win, and he’s coming from the right place. He’s just competitive.”

Harley has 2 goals and 9 assists this season. Saturday was his first three-point game.

“[Rantanen] told me I should be a little bit lower in the zone,” Harley explained. “Still in the middle, but their forwards play so low that I can come in and creep in and be a shot threat. …I just came over the top and tried to hit it hard.”

Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss in Columbus was Rantanen’s 100th game with Dallas. His 114 points through those 100 games were the third-most in franchise history at that mark, behind Dino Ciccarelli (127) and Neal Broten (120). Rantanen came into Saturday with 39 points in 30 career games against San Jose and an eight-game point streak against the Sharks.

Wyatt Johnston Has 8 Points In Five Games

Johnston had a hand in the first and last Dallas power-play goals. His tip on a Harley shot set up Roope Hintz’s rebound goal at 9:16 of the first, and he fed Harley at the point for the winner. He also won 6 of 7 faceoffs.

Johnston has 6 power-play points this season, two of them Saturday. He averages 3:21 of power-play time a night.

“Just goals in a bunch of different ways on the power play,” Johnston said. “Even the ones we didn’t score on, I think we had a lot of good looks. Look to build from that.”

Johnston has 3 goals and 13 assists through 15 games. He missed two games in October, the first missed games of his NHL career, and he is coming off a season in which he set career highs with 45 goals and 86 points.

Both of Johnston’s assists Saturday involved Harley. Harley finished with a goal and 2 assists, all on the power play.

“He does a really good job up there,” Johnston said. “He walks the line really well, he’s really good at shooting for tips. He was a big part of that. You saw tonight there were a lot of different ways that we can score.”

Dallas went 3-for-5 on the power play and is 10-5-2. The Stars host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT.