Rantanen on a rampage

This time, there was no personal vendetta to sort through, but Mikko Rantanen still made life miserable for the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.

On the heels of eliminating his former team with a four-point effort in Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, the Dallas Stars winger delivered a natural hat trick to propel his team to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets before a sellout crowd at Canada Life Centre.

Rantanen now leads the Stanley Cup playoffs with eight goals and 15 points in eight games, an impressive total, especially when you consider he’s gone through the emotional toll of being traded twice this season before signing an eight-year extension with the Stars.

“He went to the net. He’s a big man that got there with his stick and he’s just somebody that you always have to know when he’s on the ice,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Whenever you face elite players, you have to know where they are. Obviously, he’s feeling it coming off of Game 7. We’ve got to know when he’s on the ice. He’s a guy that you have to make sure especially you tie up that stick of his.”

Rantanen seems to be getting more and more comfortable in his new surroundings and that’s a scary proposition for opponents.

“He’s an absolutely fantastic player — big, strong and does a lot of really, really good things out there,” said Jets centre Mark Scheifele. “He’s an absolutely phenomenal player and when you need to take away that time and space, it makes it harder but obviously, he’s a fantastic player I’ve got to really watch out for him.”

“I mean he’s a game changer,” said Stars head coach Pete DeBoer. “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.”

That was definitely the case in Game 1 and that’s why the Stars drew first blood in this battle for Central Division supremacy.

The best-of-seven series resumes on Friday night before the series shifts to Texas for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon.

Let’s take a little closer look at what transpired in the series opener:

THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY

For the first time in four playoff series, the Jets have dropped the opener.

Arniel was a tad perplexed with the slow start when he spoke to reporters after the game at the podium and broke things down.

“I’m disappointed. And the players are disappointed too,” said Arniel. “We know we just gave up home-ice advantage. 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, and we should have been here, especially at the start of another series at home.”

It was another slow start, as the Jets gave up the first eight shots on goal of the contest.

Although they turned the tables before the period was complete, the lethargic start is something they’ll look to change for Game 2.

“Our start was once again, not very good,” said Jets winger Nino Niederreiter. “It’s something we know we’ve got to do better. 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.

“I wish I could give you a better answer, but we need to be sharper, we need to be better, we just need to be better on details. As cliche as it sounds, our overall game wasn’t good enough.”

THE CHANCE

After scoring twice in less than two minutes with the goalie out in favour of an extra attacker on Sunday in Game 7, the Jets nearly had another late tally with the net empty on Wednesday.

Scheifele had a great chance in tight and the rebound was loose momentarily in front, but Gabe Vilardi’s shot was blocked by the foot of Stars defenceman Esa Lindell.

“Yeah, I didn’t really see. I was kind of over to the side, so it’s just kind of sitting there,” said Scheifele. “I think Gabe tried to get a stick on it, and kind of got tied up. (Nikolaj Ehlers) tried to get a stick on it, and they just beat us to it. And it was obviously right there.”

Close, but there was no miraculous rally to be had on this night.

“It was a mad scramble,” said Arniel. “Had a couple whacks at it, but (Stars goalie Jake) Oettinger found a way to get a piece there. Their defence all piled in, it looked like kind of a big rugby scrum happened there. Just couldn’t find the puck to get it loose.”

THE STRETCH PASS

Jets defenceman Haydn Fleury went from being a healthy scratch in five of the first six games of the Stanley Cup playoffs to playing 33:02 in Game 7 against the Blues.

When Josh Morrissey was forced to miss Game 1 of the second round due to a suspected shoulder injury, Fleury took his spot on a pairing with Dylan DeMelo.

Fleury’s skating ability should be a big benefit in this series against a Stars team that plays a heavy game.

“We need some mobility and that’s what Haydn brings,” said Arniel. “We’ve asked him over the course of the season to step up his role at different times and he’s done that. He’s played some big minutes that maybe he hadn’t in the past. Obviously, the other night was big for him.”

Fleury carried some of that momentum from the seventh and deciding game into the series opener.

On the first goal of the contest, Fleury made a heads up play, coming around the net and making a stretch pass to Mason Appleton at the offensive blue line.

Appleton found Nino Niederreiter, who beat Jake Oettinger with a sneaky backhand at 3:30 of the second period.

Fleury was in the box for cross-checking when Rantanen completed the hat trick, but that was more of a push to the pants that caught Tyler Seguin off guard.

And after the Jets had the first three power plays of the contest, it wasn’t a surprise that Fleury was penalized on the play.

THE RETURN

Although he was officially listed as a game-time decision, there was little doubt that Scheifele was going to be back in the lineup for the first time since suffering an undisclosed injury in Game 5 against the St. Louis Blues when he was on the receiving end of a pair of jarring hits from Brayden Schenn and Radek Faksa.

After sitting out Games 6 and 7, Scheifele was back for the opener and made an immediate impact, skating on the top line with Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi.

After the Jets fell behind 3-1, Vilardi took advantage of a defensive-zone turnover by Stars captain Jamie Benn, who lost control of the puck below the goal line.

Vilardi found Scheifele alone in the slot and he buried his shot for his third goal of the postseason.

Getting Scheifele back in the lineup allowed the Jets to run their full forward group for the first time since Mar. 23, when Vilardi suffered an upper-body injury late in the third period against the Buffalo Sabres.

“It certainly helps your group when you have that depth and that’s the biggest thing for me. That depth is now back there,” said Arniel. “As you guys know, I’m pretty confident, as Pete is with his group, to throw four lines out there and to throw them against anybody at any time.”

THE CHESS MATCH

Both teams aren’t afraid to run four lines and all three D pairings, which is important when you consider how hard the Jets and Stars had to work in order to advance to the second round.

The Jets didn’t use a hard match in Game 1, although they did run out captain Adam Lowry against Stars top centre Roope Hintz for a chunk of the contest.

Prior to the game, DeBoer was asked if there was anything from the blueprint the Blues put forth to have success in the first round battle with the Jets that he might try to implement in this series.

“Well, I think that’s all part of our pre-series planning. 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,” said DeBoer. “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 KEY PLAY

Rantanen’s pass attempt for Roope Hintz goes off the skate of Jets defenceman Dylan Samberg and into the net to complete his second hat trick in consecutive games.

THE THREE STARS

1. Mikko Rantanen, Stars, Recorded a natural hat trick.

2. Thomas Harley, Stars, Had an assist, logged 25:07 of ice time.

3. Mark Scheifele, Jets, Scored a goal in his return to the lineup.

EXTRA, EXTRA

Special teams were a factor in this one, as the Jets power play finished zero-for-four, while the Stars got the game-winning goal on the power play from Rantanen at 16:38 of the second period and finished one-for-two.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck finished with 21 saves, while Stars goalie Jake Oettinger finished with 30 and was serenaded with “U.S. backup” chants during the second period.

While both teams got a top forward back from injury, the Jets were without Morrissey and the Stars were without top D-man Miro Heiskanen. Morrissey, who left Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues in the first period after taking four shifts and playing 2:09, was moving well at the morning skate and looks like a candidate to suit up in Game 2 against the Stars. As for Heiskanen, his timeline is a bit unclear, though he continues to progress from the knee injury he suffered in an awkward collision with Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone on Jan. 28. The Jets were also without defenceman Logan Stanley (undisclosed injury) and the Stars played without winger Colin Blackwell (undisclosed).

Stars winger Jason Robertson suited up in his first game of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs after suffering a knee injury in Game 82 of the regular season. Robertson played on a line with Wyatt Johnston and Mason Marchment and took 19 shifts for 13:44 of ice time, recording one shot on goal.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld