Vegas is only so much fun for someone Wyatt Johnston’s age.

He can’t celebrate at the bar with his teammates, nor can he test his luck at a casino during Dallas’ four-day stay.

But the 20-year-old Stars forward left T-Mobile Arena Saturday night as the biggest winner.

Johnston lifted Dallas to its first win of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs by a 3-2 margin in overtime, accounting for two of Dallas’ goals including his first overtime game-winner of his career.

He was by far Dallas’ best player on the ice — as he has been in many games this season — and sparked the dominant offensive performance that Dallas needed.

“I thought he was just outstanding tonight,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “For a kid to be under 21 years old and be on that ice with that level of player and look like he did all night tonight, just an outstanding player.”

Johnston logged 23:50 of ice time and had eight shots on goal. He scored his first goal a little over 11 minutes into the game, cleaning up a rebound in front of the net. His top-shelf overtime goal looked eerily similar to the one he scored in Game 7 of last year’s series with Seattle, which clinched Dallas a spot in the Western Conference Finals.

But less than a year later, his game and confidence levels have drastically improved.

“Definitely feels a lot different,” he said. “Obviously, I got to experience a pretty good run last year. I think just learning from last year the playoff style of hockey and trying my best to learn the different areas playing Vegas.”

Johnston led Dallas in goals this season with 32 and is now tied with Jason Robertson for the lead in playoff goals (2). He’s done that despite being a third-line player.

However, his play earned him a spot on Dallas’ top line Saturday alongside Robertson and Roope Hintz. The trio played 111 minutes together in the regular season and led the league in expected goals percentage at 80.2%

Saturday night was just another example of how dangerous they can be.

“They’re great players,” Johnston said of his new linemates. “They’re so smart. See the ice really well, make those plays. I think for me it’s just making sure I’m making those plays. I think it’s just trying to feed off of them.”

Johnston and his line were relentless in Game 3, especially as Vegas goalie Logan Thompson had the game of his career.

Thompson made 43 saves on 46 shots, including stunning glove saves and stops on breakaways. He turned away a dangerous shot from Johnston just moments before the game-winner.

But Johnston continued to threaten, and it paid off.

“Wyatt Johnston. That’s kind of how we solved them,” Tyler Seguin said.

Dallas’ young core has been the heart and soul of the last few months of the season with Johnston and 21-year-old Logan Stankoven delivering the team’s best performances on many nights. The fanbase saw the potential for that group to grow when the team announced it had called up 22-year-old Mavrik Bourque from the Texas Stars, though he was ultimately a healthy scratch Saturday.

DeBoer cautioned that Bourque would not be responsible for saving the Stars’ season if he did enter the lineup.

But Johnston’s performance Saturday night just might have.

“Johnny was such a stud and made a huge play. Biggest play of the season so far,” Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said. “Everyone in here knows how good he is and just what a good person he is. The sky’s the limit for him. When he does stuff like that, no one in here is surprised. We’re happy he’s in green and white.”

Twitter: @lassimak

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

It was a very long morning/afternoon for Cowboys fans tuning into the third day of the NFL Draft. The entire fourth round came and went without any trades or movement inside of the Cowboys’ war room. It was a struggle for fans watching live, but we eventually made it!

During the fourth round, with the 49er’s selected a new safety with the pick acquired from the Cowboys in the Trey Lance trade.

Cowboys fans also watched as lots of RB options were wiped off of the board.

Finally after hours of waiting, the Dallas Cowboys are on the clock!!

And with the 174th-pick in the NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys select Caelen Carson!

Take a closer look at the newest CB in Dallas:

Looks like there could be a new music group in the Cowboys’ secondary.

On to round six!

And with the 216th-pick, the Dallas Cowboys select Ryan Flournoy!

Learn more about the newest weapon for Dak Prescott.

We’ve made it to the final round in the NFL Draft and the Cowboys have two more picks to go!

And with the 233rd-pick, the Dallas Cowboys select Nathan Thomas!

Take a closer look at the evaluation of the 223rd-pick:

And with their final pick in the 2024 NFL Draft with pick number 244, the Dallas Cowboys added a big body on the interior of the defensive line by selecting Justin Rogers.

Learn more about the new Cowboys’ DT.

That concludes the 2024 NFL Draft! How do you think the Cowboys did with their eight picks?

Now let the UDFA frenzy begin!

The top-seeded Dallas Stars face long odds ahead of Game 3 Saturday night in Las Vegas. The defending Stanley Cup champions Vegas Golden Knights hold a commanding 2-0 lead in the opening round series of the Western Conferece Playoffs.

NHL playoff teams with a 2-0 series lead “go on to win the series 86.4% of the time,” Vegas play-by-play announcer Dan D’Uva said post game following the Golden Knights Game 2 road win. The Stars had not lost back-to-back games in regulation all season until this year’s playoffs.

Game 3 and 4 Odds

NHL game odds from FanDuel Sportsbook refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live betting. Favorites in ( ).

Sat., April 27

• Dallas at Vegas (-110), Total Goals 5.5

Many prop bets during the NHL Playoffs along with game-by-game picks and player props. Fans can also bet on if a team will win the game in regulation, which offers better odds – (Vegas +128), Dallas (+130).

Other NHL matchups and game odds Saturday:

• Carolina (-196) at NY Islanders – Hurricanes lead series 3-0
• Florida (-120) at Tampa Bay – Panthers lead series 3-0
• Boston at Toronto (-126) – Bruins lead series 2-1

Sunday, April 28

• Winnipeg at Colorado (-166) – Avalanche lead series 2-1
• Vancouver at Nashville (-122) – Canucks lead series 2-1
• NY Rangers (-192) at Washington – Rangers lead series 3-0
• Edmonton (-152) at LA Kings – Oilers lead series 2-1

Monday, April 29

Boston, Colorado, Vancouver and Edmonton all took a 2-1 series lead after those series were tied 1-1. The Game 3 winner goes on to win the playoff series 65.9% of the time (234-120) in NHL history when the series was tied 1-1, according to NHL Public Relations.

NHL Playoffs Picks

You can follow my sharp Canadien colleague Brian Steinberg (Sherwood) and his extensive knowledge and understanding of the betting markets at Sportswagers.ca. He provides NHL series selections, value-added insight and game-by-game picks throughout the playoffs. That includes key insight in Game 3 between the Golden Knights and Stars, where Sherwood has been riding Vegas in all three games of the series.

“The Stars’ heads have to be spinning after dropping the first two games of this series at home,” Sherwood notes. “The Fortress is never an easy place to play, and with the Knights up 2-0, that rink is going to be rocking.”

I’ll be at Game 3 to see it live, and “the Golden Knights cannot be a coin flip (-110) in this spot. They’ve beaten the Stars six times in a row, and ended their season last spring and they’ve not let Dallas breathe in this series,” Sherwood says. “If the Golden Knights let up here and the Stars are able to steal a game, so be it, but a coin flip this is not.”

Sherwood and sharp bettors see value on the Golden Knights in Game 3.

Vegas took a 3-0 series lead over Dallas in last year’s Western Conference Finals before losing the series 4-2.

Last year, Sherwood bet and picked the huge upset by the Florida Panthers over the Boston Bruins in the opening round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs., and he’s been providing adjusted NHL series bets and recommendations during this year’s 2024 playoffs.

Additional stats and performances of notes favoring Vegas:

• The Knights are 50-3 when scoring 3 goals or more in the playoffs in their six years making the post season.
• Vegas is 9-0 when Jack Eichel has multi-point games, which he’s done in both playoff games vs Dallas.
• Eichel is the 5th NHL player to record 20 or more career points in 24 games or fewer.
• Jonathan Marchessault has scored a goal in each of his last two games. Should he record another in Game 3 it would mark his fifth goal streak of three-plus games in the playoffs. The only active player with as many three-game goal streaks in the postseason is Alex Ovechkin (6x).
• Vegas has won 9 of the last 11 games over Dallas including 6 straight.
• The Golden Knights have made the playoffs in five of their six seasons in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup in 2023. Vegas is 4-0 advancing to the next round when leading a series 2-0, and 7-1 when leading 2 games to 1.
• Dallas had 26 wins and 57 points on the road during the regular season, which was the highest points percentage among all teams. The Stars have 19 road victories during the playoffs in the past five years – tied for the third most with the Golden Knights among all teams (TB 25, COL 21).

MoneyPuck now rates Vegas’ chances of advancing to Round 2 at 77.7%, and Round 3 at 40.2%. Other Western Conference contenders chances of advancing to Round 2 holding 2-1 series leads include Colorado (73.7%), Vancouver (77.3%) and Edmonton (79.2%) with those teams chances to advance to the Western Conference Finals similar to the Golden Knights from 37% to 44%.

The opening weekend of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs delivered an average audience of 2.62 million viewers across North America, up 11 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

The interest and engagement in NHL playoff hockey with spectacular saves and players strengths to skate, shoot and score continues to drive more watch and wager action and fan interest.

You can bet on it.

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