Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen has taken over the Stanley Cup Playoffs—and the NHL is struggling to describe what he’s doing.
After recording a Game 7 hat trick to eliminate his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars winger followed it up with another three-goal period Wednesday in a 3-2 Game 1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
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The league posted a message on X with the game still ongoing to capture the historic moment.
“Mikko Rantanen is the first player in #StanleyCup Playoffs history with multiple three-goal periods in the same postseason. All we can say is wow. 🤯”
Rantanen scored all three of his goals in the second period, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 Dallas lead in just under eight minutes.
“Sometimes it’s ups and downs in hockey and now it’s going well individually and as a team,” Rantanen said. “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.”
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Following Wednesday’s outing, Rantanen leads the playoff field with 15 points in eight games.
Rantanen tied the game at 8:43 by jamming in a rebound, gave Dallas the lead with a deflection at 14:21, and finally completed a natural hat trick on a redirected power-play shot for his third and final goal at 16:38.
“Sometimes it goes that way,” Rantanen said. “The third goal goes off them and goes five-hole. Or when you’re going through a tough stretch, you feel like you could only pray for those and those never come.”
Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen (96) tries to skate away from Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk (4) at Canada Life Centre.Terrence Lee-Imagn Images
The Jets pulled one back less than a minute after Rantanen’s final tally through Mark Scheifele, but Winnipeg couldn’t break through again as Stars goalie Jake Oettinger closed the game with 29 saves.
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“I thought [Oettinger] was excellent,” Rantanen said. “They were pushing really hard in the third… ‘Otter’ was the difference-maker in the third.”
Game 2 in the best-of-7 series is scheduled for Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET in Winnipeg before the series shifts to Dallas for Games 3 and 4.
Related: Mikko Rantanen Makes NHL History with Back-to-Back Unique Feats
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