Subscribe
Follow Us
It only took one period for Mikko Rantanen to defeat the Winnipeg Jets. Rantanen had a natural hat trick in the second period, which ended up sealing Dallas' victory over Winnipeg 3-2 in Game 1 of their series. Now the Jets have to figure out exactly what went wrong and fix it before Game 2.
Jets head coach Scott Arniel explained why it is so difficult to defend Rantanen after the game.
“He’s a big man and he’s hard to move,” Arniel said before Game 1 per The Athletic's Murat Ates and Mark Lazerus. “When he decides to take pucks to the net, you’ve got to get into him early because he can do that. And then he has the offensive instincts and then the skill set that he has — he’s an elite goal scorer in this league.”
Rantanen joined NHL history with his impressive hat trick. He also logged a hat trick in Game 7 against Colorado. As a result, Rantanen is the third player in NHL history to score hat tricks in consecutive games.
Understandably, Arniel was not pleased with Winnipeg's defensive performance in Game 1.
Arniel did not hold back when talking about his team after the loss. He even suggested that his team did not look ready to play playoff hockey in Game 1.
“There was a lot of sloppiness to that game,” Arniel said in the postgame press conference. “That did not feel like a playoff game in Game 1 and Round 2. That felt like Game 45 in the middle of December. Obviously, we know the high that we were on coming off that St. Louis game. But man, this is the playoffs. That's a game that no matter how you start the game or however you get into the game, it's one of those ones that there's a way we have to play as a group, and that's not how we play.”
The Jets will host Game 2 of the series on Friday night in Winnipeg. They need to get their act together in a hurry, otherwise the series could slip away from them.
