Red-hot Mikko Rantanen records 2nd hat trick in a row, as Stars beat Jets in Game 1
CBC
Mikko Rantanen scored a natural hat trick in the second period and the Dallas Stars took a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 1 of their second-round NHL playoff series on Wednesday
Jake Oettinger stopped 30 shots for Dallas, which is facing Winnipeg in the post-season 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 suffering an upper-body injury in Game 5 of Winnipeg's opening-round series against the St. Louis Blues.
The Stars welcomed back winger Jason Robertson, who injured his knee in the team's final game of the regular season and missed Dallas's entire seven-game first-round matchup with the Colorado Avalanche.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series goes 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 visitors 13-12 and outhit them 14-10.
Niederreiter got the sold out crowd cheering when his sharp-angled backhand beat Oettinger at the 3:30 mark of the second period. He became the NHL's first Swiss-born player to skate in 100 career post-season contests.
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 at 14:21, and he made it 3-1 on the power play two minutes later when his shot went in off Jets defenceman Dylan Samberg.
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