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)

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to own Greenland. He has repeatedly said the United States must take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss a renewed push by the White House, which is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.

Trump said Friday he is going to do “something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”

If it's not done “the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," he said without elaborating what that could entail. In an interview Thursday, he told The New York Times that he wants to own Greenland because “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO, and Greenlanders say they don't want to become part of the U.S.

This is a look at some of the ways the U.S. could take control of Greenland and the potential challenges.

Trump and his officials have indicated they want to control Greenland to enhance American security and explore business and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland is also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents towards Washington's position in the Arctic.

The current fixation is partly down to “the realization we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, and we don’t yet have the right strategy or vision to do so,” he said.

If the U.S. took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one.

While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and doesn't have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the U.S.

It's unclear how the remaining members of NATO would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island or if they would come to Denmark's aid.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen has said.

Trump said he needs control of the island to guarantee American security, citing the threat from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but “it's not true” said Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, or DIIS.

While there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the Arctic region — there are no surface vessels, Mortensgaard said. China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint military exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Bayoumi, of the Atlantic Council, said he doubted Trump would take control of Greenland by force because it’s unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and would likely “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies worldwide.

The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Denmark and Greenland would be “quite happy” to accommodate a beefed up American military presence, Mortensgaard said.

For that reason, “blowing up the NATO alliance” for something Trump has already, doesn’t make sense, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland at DIIS.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island isn't for sale.

It's not clear how much buying the island could cost, or if the U.S. would be buying it from Denmark or Greenland.

Washington also could boost its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy,” without taking it over, Bayoumi said.

One option could be for the U.S. to get a veto over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it has in islands in the Pacific Ocean, Gad said.

Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, or COFA, with the U.S.

That would give Washington the right to operate military bases and make decisions about the islands’ security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and around $7 billion of yearly economic assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It's not clear how much that would improve upon Washington's current security strategy. The U.S. already operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and can bring as many troops as it wants under existing agreements.

Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but don't want to become part of the U.S.

Gad suggested influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the U.S. would likely fail. He said that is because the community on the island is small and the language is “inaccessible.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the top U.S. official in Denmark in August to complain that “foreign actors” were seeking to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Even if the U.S. managed to take control of Greenland, it would likely come with a large bill, Gad said. That’s because Greenlanders currently have Danish citizenship and access to the Danish welfare system, including free health care and schooling.

To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gad said.

Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, Rasmussen said last year. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Thursday that Denmark has neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said that it makes “little sense to criticize Denmark,” because the main reason why the U.S. operates the Pituffik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.

The best outcome for Denmark would be to update the defense agreement, which allows the U.S. to have a military presence on the island and have Trump sign it with a “gold-plated signature,” Gad said.

But he suggested that's unlikely because Greenland is “handy” to the U.S president.

When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting from domestic political problems — “he can just say the word ‘Greenland' and this starts all over again," Gad said.

CORRECT THE ORDER OF SPEAKERS, FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak on April 27, 2025, in Marienborg, Denmark. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in the Arctic Ocean in Nuuk, Greenland, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

President Donald Trump listens as he was speaking with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

FILE - A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. lands in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 7, 2025. (Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, file)