Granlund give Stars lead over Jets heading to third period
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DALLAS (AP) — 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.
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 post-season.
The primary assist on the third Granlund goal came from Miro Heiskanen, the standout defenceman in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 28 after missing the final 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 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, the odds-on favourite to win the top goalie award again this season, has allowed 24 goals in the five road losses in these playoffs.
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 left of Oettinger going under the goalie’s legs and ricocheting into the net while Tyler Seguin was coming out of the box.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl