Mikko Rantanen has second straight hat trick as Stars beat Jets 3-2 in series opener
Associated Press
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a natural hat trick in the second period, Jake Oettinger stopped 30 shots and the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.
Rantanen, who had a hat trick in the third period of the Stars' Game 7 win over his former Colorado teammates, is the third player in NHL history — and the first in nearly 40 years — with hat tricks in consecutive playoff games.
Edmonton's Jari Kurri accomplished the feat in Games 5 and 6 of the 1985 Campbell Conference final, and Chicago's Doug Bentley did the same in Games 4 and 5 of the 1944 Stanley Cup Final.
'Sometimes it goes that way,' said Rantanen, acquired from Carolina at the trade deadline. 'The third goal goes off them and goes five—hole. Or when you're going through a tough stretch, you feel like you could only pray for those and those never come."
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Winnipeg.
Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, who had won four in a row at Canada Life Centre. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves.
Scheifele returned after sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 5 in the first round against St. Louis. Dallas forward Jason Robertson was back after injuring a knee in the final game of the regular season.
The Jets led the NHL with 116 points to earn home-ice advantage through the playoffs, while Dallas was second in the Central Division and third in the Western Conference with 106.
'We know we just gave up home-ice advantage,' Jets coach Scott Arniel said. 'And that wasn't a game where they rolled over top of us for three periods. That was a game where we weren't at our best."
Niederreiter got the sold-out crowd cheering when his sharp-angled backhander beat Oettinger at 3:30 of the second period. He became the NHL's first Swiss-born player to skate in 100 postseason games.
Rantanen tied it at 8:43 with his sixth goal of the playoffs. His second goal was a tip of Thomas Harley's point shot with 5:39 left, and he made it 3-1 on the power play 2:17 later when his shot went in off Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg.
"Sometimes it's ups and downs in hockey and now it's going well individually and as a team,' Rantanen said.
Rantanen extended his points streak to four games with eight goals and six assists across the stretch. He has 15 points this postseason.
'He's one of the best players in the world and he's just on fire right now, so we're just trying to get him the puck,' said center Sam Steele, who assisted on Rantanen's first goal of the night.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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