Stars’ Mikko Rantanen becomes third player to record back-to-back playoff hat tricks

Mikko Rantanen is doing his best to endear himself to the Dallas Stars faithful.

After catching fire towards the end of Dallas’s Round 1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, carrying his new team to a Game 7 win over his old one with a hat trick, Rantanen rode that momentum into Game 1 of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets.

With the Stars trailing 1-0 in the second period, Rantanen put the squad on his back once again, recording a natural hat trick to flip the game in Dallas’s favour.

In finding the back of the net three times for the second straight game, Rantanen became part of an exclusive post-season.

Rantanen joined Doug Bentley (1944) and Jari Kurri (1985) as the only players in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to have back-to-back hat tricks.

After recording just one assist in the first games of the series against Colorado, Rantanen now has eight goals and 14 points over his last three games and through two periods on Wednesday night. In fact, Rantanen had scored or assisted on Dallas’s last 12 goals.

Rantanen’s outburst to open the series against Winnipeg shot him into sole possession of first place in goals for these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Given the fact that the 28-year-old forward was traded twice during the 2024-25 season — from Colorado to Carolina, then from Carolina to Dallas — his epic run sent the hockey world into a frenzy as he etched his name into the NHL post-season record books.

Here are some of the top reactions from hockey fans.