Yes, my last two pieces about the Dallas Stars have used alliteration surrounding Mikko Rantanen. If you don’t like it, get over it. Alliteration is fun!
It’s safe to say that with Luka Dončić’s departure from DFW, there was a gaping hole in the “who is the best player in the city?” argument. Ever since Dončić arrived in 2018, there really wasn’t a discussion to be had regarding who was the cream of the crop in Dallas.
While there’s no way anybody could eclipse the star power and prestige that Dončić brought to the Metroplex, somebody still had to take the mantle of “best player” sooner rather than later. The easy bet would’ve resided at AT&T Stadium — the home of the Dallas Cowboys — where DFW sports stars are born and bred. Nobody, and I mean nobody, outdoes the Cowboys when it comes to publicity, so it was easy to assume that there would be some kind of PR campaign to elevate a member of that team to “best player in the city.”
The other Arlington residents — the Texas Rangers — also employ a superstar who brought the city its first championship since 2011 in Corey Seager. Without his heroics throughout the 2023 postseason, the Rangers don’t win that World Series, plain and simple.
But I don’t think the answer to the “who is the best player in DFW” question resides in Arlington. In fact, that dude plays in the exact arena that Dončić did for his entire NBA career until February 1 — except he doesn’t play on hardwood. He’s a member of the Dallas Stars.
Over the Stars’ last four Stanley Cup Playoff games, Mikko Rantanen has eight goals and six assists for a playoff-leading 14 points.
In Game 7 of the Stars’ first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche, it was Rantanen’s hat trick in the third period that helped lift Dallas out of a 2-0 hole and into the second round.
And in Game 1 of the second round in Winnipeg last night, Rantanen did it again. His natural hat trick — with all the goals coming in the second period — was the deciding factor in a close 3-2 victory for Dallas over the Jets.
Right now, Mikko Rantanen is the Dallas Stars.
Mikko Rantanen is Dallas sports.
Don’t get me wrong — last night was an incredible team win in many regards, with the Stars’ penalty kill going 4-for-4. But it was Rantanen’s magic that ultimately delivered the goods.
In my 22 years of watching sports in this city, I’ve never quite seen a stretch of play as awesome as the one he’s on right now. Rarely do we get to say in this town that we have one of the best — but we do now. Who would’ve thought that we’d still be able to say that even after Dončić was dealt away right under our feet?
Let’s not forget the other incredible feat accomplished by Dallas last night: it was the Stars’ first Game 1 victory since September 19, 2020 — Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals in the bubble against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In the intervening period between then and now, Dallas was 0-8 in Game 1s.
Winning the first game of any series is undoubtedly a good thing, but it’s in no way an indication of whether a team will go on to win the series as a whole. As you may well remember, the Stars ended up losing that 2020 series to the Lightning in six games. What you might remember even better is that the Stars lost Game 1 a little over two weeks ago to the Colorado Avalanche — and it’s not the Avalanche who are playing in the second round.
Regardless of any semantics about whether winning Game 1 will result in a trip to the Western Conference Finals or not, the story of last night — and the story of this entire playoff run so far for the Dallas Stars — is Mikko Rantanen. If there were any doubters remaining about whether that trade was a good move by the Stars, they were extinguished in the last two games. He’s been that good.
Jason Robertson returned to the lineup for Dallas last night, which was an extremely positive sign. His name didn’t feature on the scorecard, but he played a completely fine game, and there wasn’t really any sign of fatigue or pain from him.
Now the Stars just need to get Miro Heiskanen back, and their arsenal will be fully stocked. When Dallas traded for Rantanen at the deadline, it did so hoping that one day later in the season this loaded roster would be completely healthy and ready to unleash fury on the rest of the league. With Tyler Seguin back from hip surgery and Robertson now patched up, the Stars are one step closer to realizing that dream.
Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said that Heiskanen should be ready sometime during the second round. Whether that’s for Game 2 tomorrow or not, he didn’t say. Nevertheless, his imminent return is exciting.
The Stars have done a decent job patching up the blue line through the first three weeks of the playoffs, with Thomas Harley and Esa Lindell bearing the majority of the load. Harley has been a workhorse since January — outside of Heiskanen, he led the team in average time on ice at 23:23 throughout the season — and since Heiskanen went down, he has proven to fans in Dallas and across the league that he’s a top-tier defenseman.
When Heiskanen returns, somebody on the blue line is inevitably going to have to move over. The likely candidates are the third pairing of Lian Bichsel and Alex Petrovic, but even that might be somewhat hard to stomach. While the pair haven’t been otherworldly, they’ve been more than suitable and have frankly outplayed expectations. Unfortunately for one of them — probably Petrovic — Heiskanen is a top-five defenseman in the NHL, and somebody’s going to have to scoot on over.
All this talk about Rantanen and Robertson’s and Heiskanen’s potential returns to the lineup has overshadowed Jake Oettinger’s role in Dallas’ success so far this postseason. Last night in particular was a shining example of why the Stars are so lucky to have a goalie as reliable as Oettinger.
Don’t get it twisted: Oettinger outdueled Connor Hellebuyck yesterday evening. For all of Hellebuyck’s historic struggles in the playoffs, he’s still the best goalie in the world and is about to win his third Vezina. When he is at his best, there’s no one like him.
And while Hellebuyck wasn’t swimming in the swamp pit like he was in the Jets’ first-round series against the St. Louis Blues, he was completely formidable last night in Game 1. He was good—but Oettinger was better.
Of the 31 shots that Winnipeg flung Oettinger’s way, he stopped 29 of them. When the pressure was really on late in the third period and Winnipeg was throwing everything they had at him, Oettinger once again stood tall.
I mean, look at the absolute chaos in the picture above. If you can believe it, the puck didn’t find its way into the back of the net after all that. Thanks, Jake!
So, next time you hear a Stars fan complaining about Oettinger’s performance in net, just remember: it could always be worse. He’s never going to lose the Stars a game, and he’s the definition of reliable. That’s not the case for every team’s goalie situation remaining in the playoffs (I’m looking at you, Edmonton).
There can be a tendency for teams that don’t have home-ice advantage to be content with a split on the road. With Dallas winning Game 1 in Winnipeg, I really hope that’s not the case. While going up 2-0 isn’t necessarily a death blow — especially to a team as good as the Jets — it’s certainly close to it. Imagine if the Avalanche had shut down the Stars in Game 2 of the first round and headed back to Denver up 2-0. I don’t think that series winds up in Dallas’ favor if that’s the case.
So, the goal is simple: win tomorrow. If the Stars can manage that feat, they’ll be sitting really pretty come Sunday afternoon when they play Game 3 in Dallas.