Mikko Rantanen records another hat trick, Stars edge Jets in Game 1: Takeaways

Sports

add

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets can’t stop Mikko Rantanen either.

Rantanen, coming off a massive effort in Game 7 of the Dallas Stars’ first-round series, started the second round with another hat trick and helped the Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Jets in Game 1 on Wednesday night at Canada Life Centre.

The Stars trailed 1-0 in the second period when Rantanen — often being double-shifted — scored at the 8:43 mark, and then at 14:21, and then at 16:38 (on the power play) to give the Stars a 3-1 lead.

Rantanen had recorded a hat trick in the Stars’ Game 7 victory over Colorado, and the Jets had even more Game 7 first-round drama, as they rallied from a late two-goal deficit to eliminate the St. Louis Blues.

In a tight Game 1 on Wednesday, Rantanen and the Stars did the most to carry over the momentum. Rantanen moved into the NHL playoff scoring lead, with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points. He’s either scored or assisted on 12 consecutive Stars goals, and has now posted eight goals and six assists in his last four games.

This despite him being all over Winnipeg’s pregame scouting report.

“He’s a big man and he’s hard to move,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said before Game 1 “When he decides to take pucks to the net, you’ve got to get into him early because he can do that. And then he has the offensive instincts and then the skill set that he has — he’s an elite goal scorer in this league.”

Mark Scheifele, back in the Winnipeg lineup, brought the Jets back within a goal 57 seconds after Rantanen scored his third, but Stars goalie Jake Oettinger finished with 30 saves, and this time there were no late heroics from the Jets. They came close, as Stars defenseman Esa Lindell knocked away a potential goal in a six-on-five situation.

The victory snapped a baffling streak, as the Stars had lost eight consecutive Game 1s, with their last opening-game victory coming in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.

‘Moose’ on the loose

Adam Lowry is one of the top defensive centers in the NHL, so naturally, Arniel utilized the home team’s last-change privileges to keep him on the ice against the red-hot Rantanen, known as “Moose.” But there are ways around that, especially in the second period, when the teams have the long change.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer gave Rantanen several extra shifts on the fourth line in Oskar Bäck’s spot, alongside Sam Steel and Evgenii Dadonov, and it paid off big-time as he scored on two of them during his second-period hat trick. On the first, he made a one-handed lunge to bat in a Dadonov rebound (Lowry was on the ice for this one). On the second, he deflected a Thomas Harley shot past Hellebuyck.

“It’s a deep lineup we have,” Rantanen told ESPN’s Leah Hextall during the second intermission. “Even fourth-line guys are making plays. Lot of skill through the lineup and they made a couple nice plays there to set me up. It was good.”

Of course, the way Rantanen’s going, you could put him on a line with DeBoer and Casey DeSmith and he might pot a pair per period.

“He’s a game-changer, right?” DeBoer said. “You saw that last game, but he’s a game-changer in a league where everybody’s only got one of those guys, maybe two. The eight teams left probably have a couple each. I think the games get tight-checking, the scores get lower, there’s less and less room and those types of players have the ability to make something out of nothing. He did that the other night (in Game 7) for us. That’s sometimes what separates teams this time of year.”

Hellebuyck helps Jets survive red-hot Stars start

Hellebuyck struggled against the Blues, giving up 26 goals in the series and getting pulled three times on the road.

That’s what made the “MVP!” chants he got from fans at Canada Life Centre so striking, both before Game 7 against St. Louis and again on Wednesday night.

“It’s hard to describe that. It’s just so awesome to be part of that,” Hellebuyck said of the crowd support. “Something I cherish so deeply. It’s a big reason why I’m going to be a Jet for life. This crowd believes in me, this team believes in me, as much as I believe in myself. That’s dangerous. That’s when things get going and things get rolling. Having them behind me, I don’t want to say (it’s) a sigh of relief, but just a proud moment in my world.”

Hellebuyck helped Winnipeg withstand Dallas’ strong start to Game 1, as he made 12 first-period saves, including eight before Winnipeg had a shot on goal. Hellebuyck robbed Rantanen after a great low-to-slot pass from Mikael Granlund, and also turned aside a dangerous Wyatt Johnston rush shot. He gloved down Granlund’s backhand deke with less than three minutes to go in the third period, too – and it still wasn’t enough to earn the win.

It’s difficult to fault Hellebuyck for any of Rantanen’s goals — nor does his play in Game 1 prove that he’s all the way back. There’s still some work to do. He finished Game 1 with 21 saves on 24 shots — many of them dangerous.

Mark Scheifele scores in return to Jets’ lineup

Scheifele missed the end of Winnipeg’s first-round series after taking heavy hits from Brayden Schenn and Radek Faksa in the first period of Game 5. The Jets persevered, closing out Game 7 without him, but it wasn’t easy without their No. 1 center.

Scheifele scored a goal in his return to Winnipeg’s lineup on Wednesday, finishing off a centering feed from Vilardi 57 seconds after Rantanen’s hat-trick goal. He was dangerous on the power play, even though he didn’t score on the man advantage, and led the Jets with seven shots on goal.

There were a few uncharacteristic giveaways from Scheifele, but Winnipeg should head into Game 2 with its full complement of forwards intact.

Winnipeg still fighting against net-front traffic

DeBoer promised to take a page out of the St. Louis Blues’ playbook when it came to net-front play against the Jets, and Rantanen’s second goal was proof he did his homework.

“We’d be crazy not to look at what we felt St. Louis did well and where we felt maybe St. Louis fell short, that maybe we’d have to be better at,” DeBoer said before Game 1. “The recency factor is always critical when you’re pre-scouting. There’s no more recency than the seven games those two teams just played. So, we’ve looked at that pretty heavily.”

The Stars responded by driving to the front of the net with multiple layers of screens, looking for more of the greasy goals that beat the Jets in Round 1. No goaltender gave up more goals in the first round via deflection, screen, or both than the 11 Hellebuyck did against St. Louis — and Rantanen’s deflection of Harley’s shot made it 12.

Another one for Mikko Rantanen! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/E1d8Jo6AIq

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 8, 2025

Robertson returns

Early in the first round, injured Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was skating with the Stars while Jason Robertson was still limping around American Airlines Center in a heavy, thigh-to-ankle knee brace. But Robertson was the first to make it back, returning to the lineup for Game 1. DeBoer eased him into the rotation, playing him on the third line with Wyatt Johnston and Mason Marchment, but in more limited minutes.

Robertson’s postseason numbers are solid — 38 points in 45 games over the last three seasons — but he’s been streaky. Still, he led the Stars with 35 goals in the regular season, and had 80 points.

“Instant offense, right?” DeBoer said before the game. “He’s our best goal-scorer, probably, Mikko aside. But also what you realize with Robo, he’s a big body and he plays a heavy game, a playoff-type game. He’s hard on pucks, he protects pucks, he goes to scoring areas on the ice.”

Robertson finished the game with one shot on goal in 13:44 of ice time.

(Photo: Cameron Bartlett / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Zkáza. Talent, který právě povýšil do nejprestižnější soutěže, utrpěl zranění při drsném střetu se zdí

Sports

Next

trending_flat

První trofej kapitána Poznara. Nikdy jsem nic nevyhrál. Těším se, až ten pohár zvednu nad hlavu, svěřil se

Sports