Category: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Mikko Rantanen is quickly becoming a fan favourite in Dallas.
Building on his scorching performance at the end of Dallas`s first-round series victory against the Colorado Avalanche, where a hat trick in Game 7 helped eliminate his former team, Rantanen carried his red-hot play into the second-round opener versus the Winnipeg Jets.
Facing a 1-0 deficit in the second period of Game 1, Rantanen once again stepped up for the team, scoring a natural hat trick that turned the tide and gave Dallas the lead.
By netting three goals for the second consecutive playoff game, Rantanen joined a very select group in post-season history.
He is now just the third player ever in Stanley Cup Playoffs history, alongside Doug Bentley (1944) and Jari Kurri (1985), to achieve back-to-back hat tricks.
Following a slow start in the early games against Colorado, where he registered only one assist, Rantanen has exploded offensively, accumulating eight goals and 14 points in his last three games (up to the end of the second period Wednesday). Remarkably, he was involved in Dallas`s previous 12 goals through scoring or assisting.
This offensive surge at the start of the Winnipeg series propelled Rantanen into the top spot for goals scored in the current Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Considering the 28-year-old forward was traded twice during the 2024-25 season – moving from Colorado to Carolina, then to Dallas – his exceptional performance has captivated the hockey world as he writes his name into the NHL playoff record books.
