Wednesday night may have been dubbed as Game 1 of the Central Division Final in Winnipeg, but for those in attendance and tuning in around the world, it was Night 2 of the Mikko Rantanen show.
Entering the first game of the second round red hot, Rantanen continued his historic stretch of hockey, scoring his second-straight hat trick, becoming just the third player in Stanley Cup Playoff history to do so, as he helped the Dallas Stars defeat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2.
“We all know how elite he is,” Nino Niederreiter said of Rantanen post-game. “He’s really done it these last few games and throughout his whole career. Always a fantastic player, but we’ve got to find a way to shut him down and not make it too easy on him.”
According to some, both the Stars and Jets were lucky to make it to the second round. Both clubs were, in fact, mere minutes away from being eliminated from the postseason just a few nights earlier, but both clawed their respective ways back to eliminate their first round competition and advance to the second round.
Facing off for the first time in the playoffs, the matchup was deemed to be as close as one would expect in an extremely tight Central Division race. And for the first time this postseason, Winnipeg lost a game on home ice.
But things could not have started better for the beleaguered Connor Hellebuyck. After struggling out of the gate in the first round vs. St. Louis, the Vezina and Hart Trophy finalist turned aside everything he faced in the first period. And it started with eight-straight Dallas shots on goal.
It took a while, but the Jets did wake up. The hosts managed to find the next nine shots, and finished the period ahead 13-12. Winnipeg also drew two penalties in the frame, but was unable to capitalize on either man advantage.
Wednesday’s game marked the first of the eight-game postseason to which Winnipeg escaped the first period without giving up a goal.
“They had a great start,” Niederreiter added. “It’s something we need to get better at. Our start was once again, not very good. It’s something we know we’ve got to do better and it was a completely different series than the St. Louis one. They are obviously a very experienced team. They know how to be in a tight game, they are extremely patient. That is something we’ve got to learn from.”
Niederreiter got the Jets on the board five minutes into the middle stanza, as he scored on a rush play up-ice. Haydn Fleury hit Mason Appleton with a strong stretch pass, who got the puck to Nino. He beat Oettinger on the backhand, giving Winnipeg a 1-0 lead.
But it was the Stars’ Game 7 hero Mikko Rantanen who tied things up less than five minutes later. He cleaned up the garbage on an Evgenii Dadanov one-timer, pushing the loose puck home past Hellebuyck.
Somehow, Winnipeg was awarded another power play later in the second period, but once again the man advantage passed by unsuccessfully. Despite having Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi back in the lineup alongside Kyle Connor, the top unit just couldn’t find a way to fool Oettinger.
Much like Dallas’ hole on its blueline (Miro Heiskanen), the Jets were without their No. 1 defender, Josh Morrissey, who left Monday’s Game 7 early in the first period.
Rantanen stormed back again, scoring not once, but twice as the period wore on. Following up his third period hat trick on Sunday, the Finnish forward potted another three goals in the second period, putting the Stars ahead 3-1, while earning his sixth goal in his past three periods of hockey.
But rather than sitting back and sulking, the Jets pressed right back, as Scheifele scored his third of the postseason from the slot off a pass from Gabe Vilardi, cutting Dallas’ lead to one goal.
Winnipeg trailed the Stars on the score board, despite owning one more shot through 40 minutes of play.
Hellebuyck and the Jets were able to shut things down in the third, but their offence seemingly dried up.
The Jets pulled for the extra attacker with 1:40 to play and came within inches of tying the game moments later. A timeout was called, a strategy was laid out, but this time there was no last-second goal, as the Jets fell by one goal.
Hellebuyck made 21 saves on the 24 shots he faced, while Oettinger turned aside 30 shots on the 32 pucks fired his way.
Game 2 will be played at Canada Life Centre on Friday night. Once again, the game will feature an 8:50 PM central start time and will be aired on Sportsnet and CBC.
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