Rantanen breaks through in ‘awesome’ Game 5, helps Stars take series lead

DALLAS -- Mikko Rantanen fired the puck into the net and raised his left arm in triumph as the crowd roared at American Airlines Center on Monday.

The first teammate to reach him was center Roope Hintz, a fellow native of Finland. Hintz wrapped his right arm around Rantanen’s neck, and they shared a few emotional words as other teammates joined in the celebration.

“Some Finnish stuff we were yelling there,” Hintz said.

Translation?

“I can’t remember what I said,” Hintz said with a smile.

Funny. Rantanen said the same thing.

“I don’t remember,” Rantanen said with a smile. “I think we were just all excited to score a goal, you know, and help the team that way. I can’t remember exactly what he said.”

Ah, well. It was an unforgettable night, anyway.

After producing only one assist in the first four games of the Western Conference First Round against his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, Rantanen had a goal and two assists for the Dallas Stars in a 6-2 win in Game 5.

The Stars lead the best-of-7 series 3-2 and can eliminate the Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday.

“Huge,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Huge relief for him. You could tell by our group’s reaction how happy our guys were for him. I mean, they feel that. They see him carrying that around.

“Having said that, I can’t tell you how professional he’s been in his approach every day in putting the team first. You wouldn’t know he hasn’t scored. He cares about us winning. I think more importantly he wants to know defensively what we can do, what he can do to help us win.

“But this guy has scored his whole life. He gets paid to score, and I think when guys like that finally get one, hopefully, look out.”

Rantanen ranks seventh in Quebec Nordiques/Avalanche history with 681 points (287 goals, 394 assists) in the regular season. The forward ranks fourth with 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That includes 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 14 playoff games against Dallas.

He was second on Colorado and sixth in the NHL with 64 points (25 goals, 39 assists) in 49 games when the Avalanche traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24. The Hurricanes flipped him to the Stars on March 7, and the pending unrestricted free agent signed an eight-year, $96 million contract.

It hasn’t been an easy adjustment, even though Rantanen had 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 20 games for the Stars down the stretch, and it didn’t help that Dallas drew Colorado in the first round.

But it was only a matter of time. Rantanen entered Game 5 with 12 shots on goal, tied for third in the playoffs among players who hadn’t scored. Early in the second period, he gave Hintz the puck on a 2-on-1, got the puck back and did what he had done so many times before, giving Dallas a 3-0 lead at 1:12.

“I saw Roope was leaving, and obviously he’s one of the best skaters in the League, and I threw it to him in the area and then just tried to beat my guy up the ice,” Rantanen said. “Great pass by Roope. I think it went between the legs, and easy, easy job for me.”

Rantanen became the seventh player in NHL history to score a playoff goal against a team with which he had 100 playoff points. The others on the list? Paul Coffey, Bernie Geoffrion, Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Jaromir Jagr and Jari Kurri.

“He’s playing well all the time,” Hintz said. “Obviously, there’s times you don’t score, but [you] can’t get too frustrated. Just got to keep pushing and keep going, and eventually it’s going to come.”

After Colorado cut Dallas’ lead to 3-2, Rantanen had an assist on a power-play goal by center Wyatt Johnston that extended it to 4-2 at 16:48 of the second period. Then he had an assist on an empty-net goal by Hintz that made it 6-2 at 17:55 of the third period.

“He’s an awesome player,” Johnston said. “He can see the ice so well. He can make plays. He can score. So that’s awesome to see him get one. I thought he was awesome tonight, and yeah, eventually, if you do enough good things, it’ll start to go in for you.”

Rantanen was on the other side of this situation last season, when the Stars eliminated the Avalanche in Game 6 of the second round at Ball Arena in Denver. He probably never envisioned he’d be in this position now. The Avalanche probably never envisioned it, either.

“It’s going to be tough,” Rantanen said.

It’s going to be easier if Rantanen heats up.