Dallas Stars right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) and Minnesota Wild center Michael McCarron (47) compete for the puck during the third period of Game 1 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series at American Airlines Center, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — Glen Gulutzan speaks sometimes as if he doesn’t know what he has in Mikko Rantanen. That, of course, isn’t true. The man is the Stars’ head coach, he has seen every game and practice this season and he knows the player’s history.
But a year ago, all Gulutzan saw from Rantanen, as an Edmonton Oilers assistant, was this: 0 goals, 3 assists, minus-4, 4 penalty minutes. The Western Conference champs did an exquisite job in stifling the Stars’ best player, which is how they held Dallas to five goals in four consecutive defeats following the Stars’ Game 1 victory.
Prior to that, Rantanen had scored nine goals, 10 assists, 19 points in 13 games against Colorado and Winnipeg. In the four losses against the Oilers, Mikko had eight shots on goal. In four straight games against the Avs and Jets, he had eight goals and six assists.
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All that is to say that a team that lost 6-1 to Minnesota Saturday needs a lot more from a lot of players Monday night at 8:30 if this is going to be a competitive series. But that’s got to start with Rantanen.
“Well, we didn’t deserve to win,’’ Rantanen said. ‘Myself, I had two O-zone penalties, one high stick and one trip, and so I know I’ve got to do a better job of staying out of the box. They killed off those penalties, but it shifts the momentum to their team and we can’t do that.’’
Gulutzan mostly fell back on the time-honored cliches when asked about Rantanen following an optional skate Sunday morning.
“Well, your best players this time of year have to be your best players,’’ Gulutzan said. ‘You know, obviously, what he did in the first couple of rounds last year. The only way you win this time of year is when you have all your guys playing, and you need your top guys to be your top guys.’’
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If the Stars are going to even this series, Gulutzan needs to be marveling at the scoring skill of Rantanen or perhaps Wyatt Johnston or Jason Robertson the way he did in dissecting Jake Oettinger’s play, which included a sizzling high glove-side goal from the game’s highest-paid player, Kirill Kaprizov. That was the key goal of the night, the one that made it 2-0 and ignited the Wild to put on a show that buried the Stars early in the second period.
“That short side roof, there’s not a goalie in the league that hasn’t given up that kind of shot. That’s why they’re great players, right? ’’ Gulutzan said. ‘Three inches by three inches, maybe, sitting up there and he can find it.’’
Since returning from an injury suffered during the Winter Olympics, Rantanen has two goals and six assists in 11 games (.72 points per game) — well below the pace he was setting prior to the injury when Rantanen had 20 goals, 49 assists in 54 games (1.28 points per game). Asked if Rantanen is 100 percent these days, Gulutzan said, “He is now. He is now.’’
And now is the time for Dallas to find the net behind rookie Jesper Wallstedt, who was given the Game 1 puck by the Wild following Saturday’s blowout. The Stars scored 1.6 goals per game in the Western Conference finals last year. They scored one goal Saturday. Just a reminder that when Rantanen went crazy in the four-game stretch against Colorado and Winnipeg, he scored 14 points. That means the Stars were averaging 3.5 goals per game just on the scores that involved Mikko. They actually scored 17 in those games, so the club managed three goals that did not involve the fans’ beloved Moose.
The Moose needs to shake loose Monday. One more game here before the series shifts to Minnesota and the Wild get to make the second changes and force more of the matchups that they seek. Rantanen was a minus-3 in the opener, and so was Wyatt Johnston, who produced all too vivid reminders of a year ago when he finished with a rather horrendous minus-16 for the postseason.
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That’s what gets back to best being the best because the top lines face each other often enough in a playoff series. Kaprizov is a great talent, fully salaried, too, with his $136 million guaranteed contract, but the rest of the Wild’s forwards are at least manageable for the Stars.
Slowing down their dervish of a defenseman, Quinn Hughes, is the greater problem and finding a way to slant the ice the opposite direction and get Hughes playing more in his own zone is the key for Monday night.
“They were just a little bit stronger in the battles, and that’s why they were able to make us defend more than we want to,’’ Rantanen said. ‘But this team is really good at resetting and coming back the next night.’’
Stars fans are counting on it.
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