Johnston has quickest goal to start a Stars playoff game in 6-2 win over Avs for 3-2 series lead

DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston scored the quickest goal ever to start a playoff game for the Dallas Stars, who had a well-timed immediate response back at home in their first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche.

Wyatt Johnston scored 9 seconds into Game 5, then added another goal and an assist for the Stars in a 6-2 win Monday night to take a 3-2 series lead.

“We did probably our best job generating chances tonight and it showed. ... Just a huge win,” Johnston said.

“I’m not surprised by our response. We’ve got a proud group,” said coach Pete DeBoer, whose team lost 4-0 in Game 4 on the road two nights earlier. “The last game, we played a poor game. It happens. In a seven-game series you're going to have a night where you're off. And we were off and we owned it and we fixed it, and we responded.”

Mikko Rantanen, who was with the Avalanche in the playoffs the past seven seasons, scored his first postseason goal and had two assists for the Stars as they took a 3-2 series lead.

"We knew as the top guys we needed to step up a little bit and play a little bit better defensively and try to get on the scoresheet a little bit more," Rantanen said.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Colorado, where the Stars clinched their second-round series last season.

After Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon scored 2 1/2 minutes apart for the Avs in the second period to get them to 3-2, Johnston scored on a power play that included a secondary assist from Rantanen.

Mason Marchment restored Dallas' three-goal lead before the end of the second period when he deflected Alexander Petrovic's long slap shot past goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.

Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 27 shots.

Blackwood, who allowed only seven goals the first four games, gave up five on 18 shots before Scott Wedgewood took over in net to start the third period. Wedgewood, who was Oettinger's backup the past two seasons, had eight saves.

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.

“I just saw just a little opening,” Johnston said. “Figured why not, let’s try it. Got lucky.”

It was the first goal this postseason for Johnston, and his third multigoal playoff game.

The previous fastest goal to start a Stars playoff game came when Jeff Halpern scored 24 seconds into Game 2 of a first-round series against Vancouver on April 13, 2007.

Johnston became just the eighth player in NHL history to score within the first 9 seconds of a playoff game. The record is still held by Don Kozak for the Los Angeles Kings, who scored 6 seconds into a game against Boston on April 17, 1977.

Dallas had led only 62 seconds in the first four games, which included two four-goal losses and back-to-back overtime wins in Games 2 and 3.

“I think we answered really well. It’s also big to start the way we did,” Rantanen said. “It’s a lot easier when you play with a lead, and I think that was our first lead for a while in the series. So it’s a key factor.”

Then in the final minute of the first period, Johnston got the assist on Thomas Harley's goal that Blackwood initially blocked with his right arm. But the puck popped up in the air and came down behind the goalie, bouncing off his back and into the net.

“It’s easy to fall down three when we give up those first two. A couple of strange goals for sure,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We definitely needed to get sharper on the defensive side early in the game, but we pushed back and created some good chances at the other end.”

Rantanen made it 3-0 early in the second period on a break with fellow Finnish player Roope Hintz, who after initially getting the puck sent it back with a cross-ice pass to set up Rantanen's short snap shot for his 35th career playoff goal.

Hintz added an empty-net goal with 2:05 left, on an assist from Rantanen.

Colorado traded Rantanen on Jan. 24 to Carolina in the East, where he played only 13 games. A deadline deal March 7 sent him back to the Central Division with the Stars and included a $96 million, eight-year contract extension.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Colorado Avalanche's Artturi Lehkonen (62), Nathan MacKinnon (29), Josh Manson (42) and Samuel Girard (49) celebrate after Lehkonen's goal during the second period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley (55) scores during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley (55) scores during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) scores past Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) during the second period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Colorado Avalanche's Artturi Lehkonen (62), Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Josh Manson, right, celebrate after Lehkonen's goal during the second period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn, left, and center Wyatt Johnston, right, skate together before a face-off during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars left wing Mason Marchment (27) and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Lindgren (55) battle for control of the puck during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) stops a shot during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn, left, celebrates with center Wyatt Johnston, right, after Johnston scored during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) celebrates with center Wyatt Johnston, left, after scoring during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston skates after scoring during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations in multiple states after at least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 a.m. local time Saturday in the capital, Caracas.

The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas. Another military installation in the capital was without power.

People in various neighborhoods rushed to the streets. Some could be seen in the distance from various areas of Caracas.

“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”

Venezuela’s government, in the statement, called on its supporters to take to the streets.

“People to the streets!” the statement said. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”

The statement added that President Nicolás Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.”

This comes as the U.S. military has been targeting, in recent days, alleged drug-smuggling boats. On Friday, Venezuela said it was open to negotiating an agreement with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking.

Maduro also said in a pretaped interview aired Thursday that the U.S. wants to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the monthslong pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in August.

Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S. The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels in what was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes on boats in September.

U.S. President Donald Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land. The U.S. has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.

The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on the explosions in Caracas on Saturday, showing images of the Venezuelan capital. Iran has been close to Venezuela for years, in part due to their shared enmity of the U.S.

Pedestrians walk past the Miraflores presidential palace after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Residents evacuate a building near the Miraflores presidential palace after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)