WINNIPEG -- Adam Lowry hopes he and his teammates will figure out a way to limit the production of Mikko Rantanen, but the Winnipeg Jets captain knows that won't be easy.
Trying to contain the Dallas Stars forward will be one of the focal points for the Jets when they play Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at Canada Life Centre on Friday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
Rantanen had a natural hat trick for the Stars in a 3-2 win in Game 1 on Wednesday. He has scored a hat trick in back-to-back games, the first time in nearly 40 years an NHL player has done that. Jari Kurri of the Edmonton Oilers was the last to do it, doing so in Games 5 and 6 of the 1985 Conference Final.
"Well, I'll just break down the first (Rantanen goal)," Lowry said. "In the neutral zone, (Stars forward) Sam Steel gets the puck, goes down. Rather than us getting into him, we're passive. We kind of duplicate. He hits the weak side. But generally, in our coverage and the way we want to play, we'd play it differently. It's just being more assertive in terms of playing on our toes."
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.
"We all know how elite he is. He's really done it these last few games and throughout his whole career," Jets forward Nino Niederreiter said. "Always a fantastic player, but we've got to find a way to shut him down and not make it too easy on him."
That's easier said than done. His former team, the Colorado Avalanche, couldn't do it in the first round, and they knew him as well as anyone. Rantanen played 10 seasons there before the Avalanche traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24. The Stars acquired him from Carolina on March 7.
Rantanen got off to a slow start in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with one assist in his first four games. Since then, however, he's been sizzling, with 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in the past four games.
"He's an absolutely fantastic player, big (6-foot-4, 215 pounds), strong and does a lot of really, really good things out there," Jets center Mark Scheifele said. "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."
Rantanen leads all players with 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in eight postseason games. Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid are next with 13 points each.
So, how to slow him down?
"I think one is the transition game. Him and Roope (Hintz) and Mikael (Granlund), they do a great job in transition off the rush, feeding and I felt like we fed into that," Lowry said of the Stars' top line. "A guy like that, you have to force to defend. The less time their line has the puck, the less dangerous he's going to be. Make him spend some shifts in his own end.
"I think it's important when you get in the D-zone against guys like that, you take away his stick. He's such a big body, you're generally not going to be able to push him away from the net or push him off pucks. But if you (don't) allow him to get the pucks in spots he wants to be or with the time he wants to have, it generally makes it harder for him to make those plays."
The Jets weren't happy with their game overall on Wednesday. After their incredible 4-3 double overtime win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of the first round, they looked sluggish.
Coach Scott Arniel said it "felt like Game 45 in the middle of December" more than the second-round opener. The Jets want to be more aggressive, they want to get back to their structure and they want to even this series. Keeping Rantanen at bay is a big part of it, too.
"He's an exceptional player," Lowry said. "He made a huge difference in the game last night and every chance you can, you have to go through the body. You have to slow the game down for him. You have to make him work to get to the open ice.
"I think we got a little loose in our structure on a couple of [the goals], that he was able to get a tip on the one, he was able to get the netfront positioning. But I think the plays before that lead into those chances for him. We just have to do a better job of limiting those."
