Forward stays hot with 17 points in past 6 games, Petrovic breaks tie in 3rd for Dallas
Jets at Stars | Recap | Round 2, Game 3
DALLAS — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at American Airlines Center on Sunday.
Rantanen has 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in his past six games. The forward, who was traded to the Stars by the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7, leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with nine goals and has factored on 15 of the Stars’ past 17 goals.
“It’s the best performance I’ve got to witness, standing where I’m standing with a guy on my team for this extended period,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “But you know, for me, he’s just getting started. He’s just warming up here. I think he’s on a mission.”
Dallas leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be here on Tuesday (8:00 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“It’s great to be on the same side, for sure,” Dallas forward Mikael Granlund said of Rantanen. “We all can see what he’s doing out there right now. He’s such a great player, and he’s playing at a really high level right now. It’s great to be on the same side, and hopefully he keeps going.”
Thomas Harley and Roope Hintz each had a goal and an assist, and Sam Steel and Granlund each had two assists for Dallas, which is the No. 2 seed from the Central Division. Jake Oettinger made 23 saves.
Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter scored for Winnipeg, which won the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record during the regular season. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves.
“I thought we played a heck of a hockey game. [I] thought we played a really strong game,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said.
Alexander Petrovic gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 3:51 of the third period when his shot from below the right face-off circle bounced in off of Hellebuyck’s stick.
The goal was upheld after a video review initiated by the Situation Room for a distinct kicking motion determined that Hellebuyck propelled the puck into his own net.
It was Petrovic’s second career postseason goal and first since April 20, 2016.
“We were battling in our zone a little bit, had a good breakout. I just kind of followed up the rush,” Petrovic said. “Usually I’m not in that position, but just thought we had good control. Mikko made a nice pass, and I made a pass back to him. Shot on net, rebound, kind of went off my skate. It was a pretty lucky goal.”
WPG@DAL, Gm3: Petrovic’s bizarre goal makes it 3-2 in 3rd
Rantanen pushed it to 4-2 just 49 seconds later at 4:40, scoring on a shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle.
“Obviously, it’s a big moment,” Arniel said of the review. “But at the end of the day, we have to be ready. They came out and jumped on us. We have to be ready for that next shift and we gave up that quick one. But I like a lot of what we did. I don’t think it got us rattled. I think that we got back on our heels a little bit on that next one and we gave up a rush against that top line.”
WPG@DAL, Gm3: Rantanen extends lead to 4-2 with remarkable goal
Wyatt Johnston made it 5-2 at 14:06 when he put in his own rebound on a shot from the slot.
“I would say first period was really good and the second [period] was theirs,” Rantanen said. “They outplayed us, they outbattled us. They were on offense all the time and we were defending too much. [Oettinger] made some big saves. Third periods have been good. The games that we’ve won, we’ve really pushed in the third and didn’t sit back at all. It’s good to get not only the one-goal lead, the final minutes a three-goal lead basically. That makes it easier.”
Hintz gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 2:27 of the first period, deflecting Rantanen’s pass in the slot on the power play.
Connor tied it 1-1 at 9:53 on a wraparound that slid beneath Oettinger’s outstretched glove hand.
“That one happened off a face-off where we were able to get to a loose puck, turn it over, and Gabe (Vilardi), even with his shot off the face-off, kind of hit [Oettinger] in the head there and created the scramble,” Connor said. “The more times we put pucks to the net and make their whole team turn and kind of collapse there, it opens up a lot for us. We’ve got to keep putting pucks behind their [defense] and getting our forecheck going. Our forecheck is one of our best assets, being able to turn the puck over.”
WPG@DAL, Gm3: Connor evens the game at 1 with wraparound
Harley gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 15:12 on a shot from the high slot.
Niederreiter tied it 2-2 at 10:07 of the second period on a sharp-angled shot from the goal line.
“I think most of the guys in that room, that’s a good effort,” Winnipeg forward Morgan Barron said. “Obviously, for our line to give up two in the third period, that can’t happen. So, it kind of starts with me and finding a better way. … So, it’s a good effort, but ultimately those little plays make a big difference. So, we’ll clean that up.”
