Mikael Granlund gets 1st career playoff hat trick as Stars beat top-seeded Jets for 3-1 series lead

DALLAS — Mikael Granlund had his first career playoff hat trick, Jake Oettinger stopped 31 shots and the Dallas Stars beat Winnipeg 3-1 on Tuesday night, taking a 3-1 series lead over the top-seeded Jets in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Mikko Rantanen, upped his NHL-leading playoff total to 19 points (nine goals) with the primary assist on Granlund's second goal that broke a 1-1 tie with 2:08 left in the second period and put the Stars ahead to stay.

Granlund did a double fist pump from his knees, then popped up to his skates after his third goal, his fourth in these playoffs, on a power play with 12:37 left in the game. The 33-year-old forward had scored multiple goals only one time in his previous 69 playoff games, for Minnesota in 2014.

''What he does on the ice is one thing, but the guy oozes leadership,'' coach Pete DeBoer said. ''Our Finnish group there, he's is kind of the elder statesman of that group."

Dallas acquired Granlund and Rantanen, both forwards from Finland, through trades during the season.

''Obviously Mikko, he's been playing in such an incredible level and I'm sure he's going to keep doing that. But obviously we need some help and, and hopefully that in the next game it might be someone else," Grandlund said. ''But all that matters is trying to get these wins.''

Game 5 is at Winnipeg on Thursday, when the Stars will have their first chance to advance to the West final for the third year in a row.

Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets, who have lost all five of their road games this postseason.

The primary assist on the third Granlund goal came from another fellow Finnish player, Miro Heiskanen, the standout defenseman in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 28 after missing the last 32 regular-season games and first 10 playoff games because of a knee injury.

That came soon after Oettinger's kick save on Kyle Connor's short-handed attempt in the first half of a double-minor penalty against Haydn Fleury. Granlund scored just before the end of the four-minute penalty.

Granlund got his first goal after skating down the middle over both blue lines, and a nifty move around Brandon Tanev near mid-ice, before snapping a 38-foot shot past Connor Hellebuyck for a 1-0 lead just 8 1/2 minutes into the game.

Hellebuyck, who stopped 21 shots, has now lost nine consecutive playoff road games since winning Game 1 at Vegas in 2023, before the Golden Knights won four in a row. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner, and the odds-on favorite to win the top goalie award again this season, has allowed 24 goals in the five road losses in these playoffs.

''I leave it all out there every night. I'm doing my best,'' Hellebuyck said. ''Sometimes it's a heartbreak, but all it takes is one little change, one little bounce and things can start going our way.''

The Jets began the second period with a minute left on a power play and Dallas technically killed the tripping penalty. But Ehlers scored from a severe angle, his shot from the bottom of the circle to the left of Oettinger going under the goalie's legs and ricocheting into the net while Tyler Seguin was coming out of the box.

''I thought we played a good hockey game. We had 70 shot attempts and scored one goal,'' Jets coach Scott Arniel said. ''If we can't find more than one goal, we're not going to win hockey games, especially against this hockey team. I liked a lot of what we did 5 on 5.''

___

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl