Mikko Rantanen

Mikko Rantanen has officially arrived for the Dallas Stars. After a slow start with his new team, he now leads the NHL in postseason points this year, and has set a playoff record. 

Rantanen was traded two times this season. First to Carolina from Colorado, then to Dallas in exchange for Logan Stankoven. Rantanen was expected to put the Stars over the top, but they ended the season on a seven game losing streak to head into the postseason. 

Rantanen stayed quiet through the first four games of the first round vs his former team the Colorado Avalanche. He only put up one point through the first four games, but produced 11 points in the final three games alone. 

Game seven in the first series saw his Stars down 2-0 in the third period. He then took over the game with a third period hat trick to help the Stars advance to round two against the Winnipeg Jets. 

Round two started off with a bang for Rantanen. He scored a second period hat trick in game one, which was good enough to lead the Stars to a 3-2 victory in Winnipeg. 

Rantanen has 14 points over his last four games, leading into game two of the Western conference semifinals. He set an NHL playoff record by scoring or assisting on 12 Stars goals in a row. He and Roope Hintz tied the NHL playoff record with four points in one period. He then went on to do it again the very next game. 

He became the third player in playoff history with back to back hat tricks, and became the first with two single period hat tricks in a row. 

Lastly, he has set a Stars record for most points in a single postseason with 15. Only one game has been played so far in the second round, so I would reasonably assume that he will continue to grow that record as the playoffs continue. 

He has come into his own after the last four games, and the Stars are finally looking like the team that many fans expected them to be after they made the trade for Rantanen.

Mason Garcia

DiSportsPhotoAgency

Associate Writer