As the Dallas Stars opened their season against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 13, Wyatt Johnston was making a different kind of debut. As a 19-year-old, the forward became the fourth-youngest player in Dallas Stars history (not inclusive of the Minnesota North Stars records) to make his debut for the club.
Johnston scored his first ever NHL goal at 4:22 into the third period to give Dallas a 4-0 lead. The goal came on the power play with Tyler Seguin spotting Johnston on the back door. He made the cross-ice pass and Johnston had a wide open net to shoot into, courtesy of a Predators defender sliding along the ice and creating some havoc in front of Juuse Saros’ net.
Wyatt Johnston with his first NHL goal!#TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/FgOZozlXzQ
— DailyDallasHockey (@DallasStarsDDH) October 14, 2022
With the goal, Johnston became the youngest player to score in his NHL debut for the Dallas Stars since they moved to Texas and the third-youngest in franchise history, behind David Archibald (1987, 18 years and 179 days old) and Mike Modano (1989, 19 years and 120 days old).
After Johnston scored, Jake Oettinger came out to congratulate him on the end of the fist bump line. His parents were also in the building for his debut and the national broadcast cut to them celebrating and taking pictures of the moment. Love a proud parent moment like this.