Mikael Granlund and the Dallas Stars are one win away from consigning the Winnipeg Jets to the list of Presidents’ Trophy winners who’ve failed to win the Stanley Cup.
Granlund scored once in each period for the first playoff hat trick of his career as the Stars defeated the Jets 3-1 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round, giving Dallas a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Jake Oettinger made 31 saves to win a goaltending battle with likely Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, allowing only an early second-period goal by Nikolaj Ehlers.
The Jets had the better of play for much of the night, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from dropping to 0-5 on the road in this year’s playoffs and 0-9 in their last nine games away from Canada Life Centre. Winnipeg will host Game 5 on Thursday night and needs a win to avoid becoming the 12th straight regular-season champion to come up short in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 2013 Chicago Blackhawks were the last Presidents’ Trophy winner to take home the Cup.
The Stars need one more win to advance to the Western Conference Final for the third straight year.
Granlund’s power-play goal at 8:36 of the first period put the Stars ahead 1-0. The late-season acquisition was given way too much room by Jets defenseman Neal Pionk entering the zone. Granlund backed him off, then beat Hellebuyck with a screened wrister from the high slot.
Oettinger had no one but himself to blame when Ehlers tied the game 1:02 into the second period, two seconds after a power play ended. Ehlers threw the puck at the net from the right boards below the face-off dot and it went through the goaltender’s legs to make it 1-1.
The Jets dominated play for the next 15-plus minutes before Granlund put Dallas ahead to stay at 17:52. Mikko Rantanen won a puck battle in his own zone and sprung Granlund on a 2-on-1 break. Granlund carried into the zone and called his own number, beating Hellebuyck over the glove from inside the right circle.
Winnipeg was three seconds away from killing a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Haydn Fleury when Granlund struck for the third time. He took a pass from Miro Heiskanen and roofed a one-timer from the lower right circle past Hellebuyck at 7:23 of the third period for an insurance goal. The hat trick was Granlund’s first since Dec. 29, 2017, when he played for the Minnesota Wild.
The rest of the night belonged to Oettinger, who single-handedly kept the Jets at bay in the final 12 minutes.
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3 takeaways from the Stars’ 3-1 win against Winnipeg in Game 4
1. ‘Other Finn’ steps up for Dallas
Rantanen has gotten almost all the attention in Dallas because of his remarkable postseason run — he’s already had two hat tricks and five three-point games. But before the Stars landed Rantanen prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, they acquired Granlund from the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 1.
Granlund was averaging nearly a point a game while playing top-line minutes for the League’s worst team. He was dropped to a middle-six role on the Stars but managed seven goals and 21 points in 31 games. After scoring one goal in Dallas’ first 10 playoff games, he connected three times in Game 4 for the 13th playoff hat trick in franchise history.
His first goal came on a power play after he drew a holding the stick penalty on Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo. The second came when he made a perfect shot on a 2-on-1 break, and the third was a one-timer off a slick feed by Heiskanen, who was playing for the first time in more than four months after a knee injury that required surgery.
Rantanen’s assist on Granlund’s second goal was his only point of the night, but he still leads all playoff scorers with 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in 11 games.
2. Oettinger outshines Hellebuyck
Hellebuyck is all but certain to win the Vezina Trophy as the best NHLt goalie for the second straight season and the third time in his career. But for the third time in four games, he was outplayed by Oettinger, his Team USA backup at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
Kyle Connor, the Jets’ regular-season leader with 41 goals, will see Oettinger in his dreams after being robbed twice on sensational scoring chances, including a breakaway backhander shortly before Granlund’s game-winner late in the second period.
“I want the guys to feel like I’m going to be able to give them a chance to win every night,” Oettinger told Sportsnet, “and I feel like I’ve done that so far.”
Oettinger has allowed just eight goals in four games with a .929 save percentage. Hellebuyck has given up 11 goals and has a save percentage of .887.
3. Time running out for frustrated Jets
The greatest season in Winnipeg’s NHL history could be 60 minutes from coming to a premature end.
Neither NHL iteration of the Jets had finished first in the regular-season standings until this season. Winnipeg finished with 116 points, five more than the second-place Washington Capitals, and led the League in fewest goals allowed (191), goal differential (plus-86) and power-play percentage (28.9). They also won a League-high 26 road games.
But the playoffs have been a different story. The Jets had to rally in the final two minutes before winning Game 7 of the opening round in overtime against the St. Louis Blues and have lost three of the first four games against Dallas in round two.
That making 21 saves on 24 shots Tuesday represented Hellebuyck’s best performance on the road this spring speaks volumes about Winnipeg’s problems. It was the first time he’s allowed fewer than five goals on the road in his five postseason games.
But Hellebuyck’s struggles haven’t been Winnipeg’s only problem. The power play that led the NHL during the regular season is 1-for-15 against the Stars — a big reason the Jets have scored just nine times in four games. The penalty killers surrendered two goals in Game 4 and have allowed Dallas to score four times in 11 power-play chances.
Winnipeg is 0-3 when trailing 3-1 in a best-of-7 series, but losing this series would be the most painful after such a terrific regular season.
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