Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, including one on the tiebreaking goal by Alexander Petrovic that was finally confirmed after a lengthy review as the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Sunday to take 2-1 lead in the second-round Western Conference series.
Officials reviewed Petrovic’s goal for well over five minutes and while determining there was a kicking motion, the goal was good after the puck went off goalie Connor Hellebuyck’s stick and into the net with 16:09 left. That all came off the rebound of the initial shot by Rantanen, who 49 seconds after play resumed scored his ninth goal of the playoffs — all coming in the last six games.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Dallas.
Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist for the Stars, and Wyatt Johnston added a late goal. Sam Steel and Mikael Granlund each had two assists.
Rantanen, who has 18 points this post-season, had the primary assist on a power-play goal by Hintz only 2:27 in for a 1-0 lead. When Dallas scored again late in the first period for a 2-1 lead, Rantanen was on the ice for defenceman Thomas Harley’s goal, but the assists went to Granlund and Steel.
That ended Rantanen’s NHL playoffs-record streak of consecutive goals involved in at 13 in a row for the Stars since Game 5 of their first-round series against Colorado.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 23 shots. Hellebuyck, the odds-on favourite to win his third Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie, and also among three finalists for the Hart Trophy that goes to the MVP of the NHL regular season, dropped to 0-4 in road games this post-season after giving up five goals on 26 shots.
Nino Niederreiter got Winnipeg even at 2-2 midway through the second period on his shot from the bottom of the right circle after Josh Morrissey made a nifty move to get around Stars centre Colin Blackwell before making the pass for the goal.
The Stars had gone ahead 2-1 late in the first after Niederreiter tripped Granlund, who slid with the puck along the boards behind the net and got his knees to swipe it to Harley in the slot.
Kyle Connor scored the first Winnipeg goal when he recovered a shot wide left of the net, then scored on a wraparound goal that got under Oettinger’s extended glove.
