But after a furious comeback led by Mikko Rantanen, Johnston capped off the Stars’ win with his third-career Game 7 goal and second-career Game 7 series clincher. Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington's A La Carte.

Johnston’s record-setting starter goal came off the opening faceoff, when he 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 Blackwood.

Rantanen is the first player in NHL history to score a hat trick in the third period of a Game 7, and the first to record multiple four-point periods in a single postseason after also achieving the feat with a goal and three assists in the second period of Game 6.