WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mikko Rantanen scored a natural hat trick in the second period and the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Jake Oettinger stopped 30 shots for Dallas, which is facing Winnipeg in the postseason for the first time.
Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, who snapped a four-game home win streak at Canada Life Centre. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves.
Scheifele returned to action after sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 5 of Winnipeg’s opening-round series against St. Louis.
The Stars welcomed back forward Jason Robertson, who injured his knee in the team’s final game of the regular season and missed Dallas’ first-round matchup with Colorado.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday in Winnipeg.
The Jets earned home-ice advantage through the playoffs after finishing the regular season with a league-best 116 points. Dallas was second in the Central Division and third in the Western Conference with 106 points.
Winnipeg won three of four games against the Stars during the regular season, including a 4-0 shutout on April 10 when the clubs were vying for top spot in the division.
The Jets didn’t get their first shot on goal until just over seven minutes into the first period Wednesday. The Stars had eight at that point.
Winnipeg had the first power play of the game, where Gabriel Vilardi tried to put the puck in around the post, but Oettinger stretched his skate against the pipe.
Hellebuyck stopped Wyatt Johnson on a breakaway in the last minute of an opening period that saw the Jets outshoot the Stars 13-12 and outhit them 14-10.
Niederreiter got the sold-out crowd cheering when his sharp-angled backhand beat Oettinger at 3:30 of the second period. He became the NHL’s first Swiss-born player to skate in 100 career postseason games.
Rantanen tied it up at 8:43 with his sixth goal of the playoffs when he poked the puck in after a rebound.
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.
Rantanen, who had a hat trick in the third period of the Stars’ Game 7 win over Colorado in the first round, 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 Game 4 and 5 of the 1944 Stanley Cup Final.
Rantanen extended his point streak to four games with eight goals and six assists across the stretch. He has 15 points this postseason.
Scheifele pulled the Jets back within one 57 seconds later with his third goal of the playoffs.
Winnipeg got its fourth power play of the game early in the third and came up empty again.
Hellebuyck was pulled with just under two minutes left on the game clock. Oettinger was swarmed, but still stopped Scheifele from in tight.
The Jets relied on late heroics in their Game 7 win over the Blues, where Cole Perfetti tied the score 3-3 with 3 seconds to go in regulation. Captain Adam Lowry then scored in the second overtime to send Winnipeg to the second round.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
