On Wyatt Johnston, perspective, and how the Stars didn't punish him for not finishing against the Wild

The Stars handled the 19-year-old forward the right way after he had two chances to end the game on Feb. 17.

Earlier this month, on Feb. 17, Wyatt Johnston missed a gaping, wide-open, net in overtime after a pass from Miro Heiskanen.

Despite missing the would-be tap-in, the Stars still had the rookie shoot in the fourth round of the shootout.

He was stopped, the Minnesota Wild won 2-1. Twice he had the game on his stick and didn’t deliver.

For a team in the midst of a slide, and one that’s struggled all season in overtime, it was a potential negative exclamation point that would have been hard to ignore.

You see, things haven’t been great in Stars land the past couple weeks. Heading into Saturday’s meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights, they’d lost five straight, including losses to last-place foes.

Internally the mood, for a team in first place in its division, was sinking. It’s easy to preach process over results, but when you frequently lose one-goal games, it can start to wear on you.