The Winnipeg Jets fell 3-2 at home to the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the second-round series between Central Division rivals Wednesday night.
Here, we’ll dive into three takeaways from the contest.
1: Jets Couldn’t Contain Mikko Rantanen
Usually, when you limit your opponent to one goal scorer, you’re in good shape to win… unless, of course, that scorer nets three. That scorer was Mikko Rantanen, who kept the good times rolling after his third-period hat trick in Game 7 that powered his team’s comeback victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
The big forward scored a second-straight hat trick — and a natural one at that — in the second period to erase his team’s deficit and give them a two-goal lead. First, he sprawled to knock in a rebound off Connor Hellebuyck from the dirty area in front of the net. Then, he executed a perfect high tip off a Thomas Harley point shot. Finally, he got a fortuitous bounce on the power play when his attempted cross-slot pass to Roope Hintz deflected off Dylan Samberg and in.
Rantanen became the first player in 40 years to score back-to-back playoff hat tricks — Jari Kurri last did it in 1985 — and is only the third player of all time to accomplish the feat.
“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,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said postgame. “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.”
Through eight playoff games, the Finn has eight goals and seven assists for 15 points, and 14 of those points have come in the past four. The Jets managed to hold him off the scoresheet in their two late-season games versus the Stars after he’d come over from the Carolina Hurricanes, and will need to find a way to at least slow him down or they’re going to have a miserable — and probably short — series.
2: Jets Lost the Special-Teams Battle
The Jets had the first three power-play opportunities of the game, but failed to convert on any of them (two came in the first when the game was 0-0 and one came in the second after Nino Niederreiter had given them a 1-0 lead at even strength.) Of those three, only the first looked remotely dangerous.
The Jets also had a fourth chance early in the third down 3-2 — Mark Scheifele had scored 57 seconds after Rantanen’s third goal in the second to draw the Jets within one — but could not find the equalizer. The Stars, meanwhile, went 1-2 on the power play, with Rantanen’s aforementioned power play goal standing up as the game winner.
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The Jets’ power play is now five for 26 in the postseason for a 19.2 per cent efficiency. Their struggles earlier in the first round against the St. Louis Blues were somewhat understandable, because they were without key first-unit personnel in Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabriel Vilardi. However, now that both are back and the units have their usual players — other than Josh Morrissey, who missed Game 1 with the injury he suffered in Game 7 versus the Blues — they need to find a way to get operating closer to the first-place 28.90 per cent they did in the regular season and be a positive factor.
3: Jets In Unfamiliar Territory With Game 1 Loss
The Jets came extremely close to tying the game in the dying minutes with the extra attacker on a furious goal-mouth scramble, but couldn’t find the heroics they did in the comeback-for-the-ages Game 7 against the Blues.
They are now in unfamiliar territory: down in a series after Game 1. Although they have not had any long playoff runs since 2018 and have won just two series since then, they have not had a problem winning openers.
Before last night, the Jets had won six of their last eight Game 1s dating back to the 2018 playoffs. Their last Game 1 loss came in the second round in 2021 at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, and they followed up that loss by being shut out 1-0 in Game 2. The Jets were ultimately swept in that series, but will look to write a new script this time around and even the series Friday.
“I’m disappointed. And the players are disappointed too,” Arniel said postgame of his team’s slow start, where they allowed the first nine shots of the game. “We know we just gave up home-ice advantage. And that wasn’t a game where they rolled over top of us for three periods. That was a game where we weren’t at our best, and we should have been here, especially at the start of another series at home.”
The Jets will now have to win a game on the road if they want to advance to the Western Conference Final. Winning in “enemy territory” is not something they’ve done this postseason — in fact, they have not come close as they got blown out in all three games in St. Louis and outscored 17-5 — but they did win an NHL-high 26 road games during their Presidents’ Trophy-winning regular season.
Game 2 goes Friday night at Canada Life Centre. Puck drop is once again 8:30 CT.