Stars' Wyatt Johnston sends clear message ahead of critical home stretch

Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said the team has not found a way to get back to its style after losing 6-3 to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

"Obviously, playing a lot of hungry teams who are, you know, fighting for their lives, you can't expect to be perfect and dominate full 60 of the game, but we like it when we do that more often, you know, play our way more often than not, we were really successful, so just a matter of doing that," Johnston said during his media duties after the game.

The 22-year-old center also noted that they need to start games better, especially in matchups that turn physical.

"You can probably start the game better. It's tough when you're really down in a physical game like this, especially after scoring first, which is always tougher. But yeah, inside, just having the energy to get one on the power play, start the third, and then get another one. It's just tough to follow back from that."

Johnston believes opposing teams are reading them differently at this point in the season, given their success.

"I think so, for sure. I mean, I think we've had a lot of success this year on the power play, and I think we keep trying to find different ways to get some looks, and yeah, I mean, have some big power plays, but I also feel like we've had some, some good looks," he began explaining.

"Tonight we had one in the third, and I think it was Mikko [Rantanen] who had a really, really good look. More often than not, those who go in talk differently. We have the players, the system, you know, we got everything. It's just a matter of executing and being super dialed in when we get those opportunities."

On the importance of the next five home games, Johnston described them as "huge" in terms of heading into the playoffs in the best possible shape.

"How important are these next five games at home? They're huge. We want to, it's just a big home stretch. We want to, you know, try to get rolling and in the playoffs and, just establish our game every night. So it'll be, it'll be great to be home for a bit and just focus on that."

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