Rantanen's comfort level, production rising for Stars

WINNIPEG – Mikko Rantanen talked about how he continues to feel comfortable with the Dallas Stars since they acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline in March.

“I think the Finns help,” the forward said with a smile at Dallas’ number of his fellow countrymen. “Obviously, they’re good, dear friends of mine and I knew them from before, before even I came to Dallas. But all the guys, the rest of team are good friends of mine, too. They’ve been very welcoming and helping me a lot to settle in.”

There’s no doubt that comfort has translated to the ice, where Rantanen had his second hat trick in as many games to push the Stars to a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday.

He became the first player in nearly 40 years to have a hat trick in consecutive playoff games and third in NHL history. The most recent was Jari Kurri, who did it for the Edmonton Oilers in Games 5 and 6 of the 1985 Western Conference Final. Rantanen has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past four Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Stars.

Has he ever been on a scoring streak like this?

“I don’t think so, no," he said. "But, you know, linemates, teammates are obviously helping me a lot on the ice and such a deep lineup we have so it doesn’t really matter who you play with. I’ve got to thank my linemates and teammates."

Rantanen’s previous hat trick came in Game 7 of the first round, when he helped the Stars come back from a 2-0 deficit to eliminate his former team, the Colorado Avalanche.

“Keep it going. Let’s see how long he can run this for,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Yeah, he’s rolling and he’s feeling it. Pretty impressive, what he’s doing. I mean, considering the opponent and the time of year and how he’s dominating games, really impressive.”

Oh, and in case another impressive stat is needed, Rantanen has factored on each of the Stars’ past 12 goals, the longest streak by a player in playoff history. He's scored six of their past seven goals.

“Twelve straight? Yeah, I’ve never heard of that,” said Stars forward Jason Robertson, who loves a good hockey statistic. “There you go. I mean, we’ll take it.

“He’s a premier player. He gets good bounces and I’m sure everyone else will get good bounces, too. He’s working hard, everyone else is working hard and I’m sure everyone in here is itching to take the load off him. But we’re happy to take his performances and we’ll just find ways to win.”

This performance helped the Stars break their Game 1 winless streak at eight. The last Game 1 win came Sept. 19, 2020, when they won the opener of that year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Game 2 against the Jets is here on Friday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

Rantanen played heavy minutes when he was with the Avalanche, usually with center Nathan MacKinnon. The Stars wanted to keep that going, so on Wednesday they played him on the top line with left wing Mikael Granlund and center Roope Hintz but also on the fourth line with center Sam Steel and right wing Evgenii Dadonov.

“We’ve traditionally been a four-line team so he’s taken a little bit of a haircut ice-time wise with us,” DeBoer said. Rantanen logged 19:08 of ice time on 28 shifts in Game 1.

“But I’ve been trying to supplement that a little bit because he is used to getting more ice and it’s a lot easier when he’s going like he is now, obviously.”

Rantanen’s two 5-on-5 goals came when he was out there with Steel and Dadonov.

“Yeah, it's a treat,” Steel said. “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. But he makes a lot of responsible plays too, he's easy to play with.”

Jets coach Scott Arniel liked how Winnipeg’s third line of left wing Nino Niederreiter, center Adam Lowry and right wing Mason Appleton played against the Stars’ top line.

“But at the end of the day, 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,” Arniel said.

“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 has found his comfort level, on and off the ice. It’s led to big things for him and the Stars.

“Sometimes it goes that way,” Rantanen said. “Sometimes it’s ups and downs in hockey and now it’s going well individually and as a team. But it’s important in the playoffs, like I’ve said before, if you win or you have a good game never get too high, you’ve got to reset and enjoy. Enjoy it for five minutes after the game and then reset.”