Granlund nets hat trick as Stars push Jets to brink of elimination
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Mikael Granlund provided all the offence for the Stars, netting a hat trick to give the Stars a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 4.
Dallas now leads 3-1 with the series set to shift back to Winnipeg for Game 5 on Thursday.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored the only goal of the game for the Jets, who remain winless on the road in this year's playoffs.
Granlund scored the first goal of the game on the powerplay, walking into the slot and firing a puck past the glove of Connor Hellebuyck. Jason Robertson assisted on the goal, marking his first point since returning from injury in Game 1 of this second-round series. Thomas Harley got the other assist on the opening goal.
The Jets entered the second period trailing but had 1:01 of power play remaining to start the frame. Just after the Dallas penalty expired, Ehlers took a sharp-angle shot that snuck between the legs of Jake Oettinger for the Jets first goal of the evening.
Granlund scored his second of the game at 17:52 to re-take the lead for Dallas, as he broke in on a 2-on-1 and wired another puck past the glove of Connor Hellebuyck. Mikko Rantanen assisted on the goal, his 10th helper of the postseason.
He completed the hat trick with another power play goal 7:23 into the third period. At the tail end of a double minor to Hadyn Fleury, Granlund blasted a one-timer over the glove of Hellebuyck for his first-career playoff hat trick. Granlund now has four goals this postseason.
Oettinger made 31 stops in the win, while Hellebuyck turned away 21 of 24 shots in the loss.
Stars defenceman Miro Heiskanen returned to the lineup after missing nearly four months with a knee injury. He missed 32 regular season games and 10 playoff games.