Rantanen then scored three consecutive goals in a span of 7:55.
He tied it 1-1 at 8:43, jamming in the rebound from Evgenii Dadonov‘s one-timer.
“We’ve traditionally been a four-line team so [Rantanen’s] taken a little bit of a haircut ice time-wise with us,” DeBoer said. “But I’ve been trying to supplement that a little bit because he is used to getting more ice and it’s a lot easier when he’s going like he is now, obviously.”
Rantanen made it 2-1 with a tip on Thomas Harley’s shot from the point at 14:21 and pushed it to 3-1 on the power play when his shot redirected in off the stick of Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg at 16:38.
“Sometimes it goes that way,” Rantanen said. “The third goal goes off them and goes five-hole. Or when you’re going through a tough stretch, you feel like you could only pray for those and those never come.”
Scheifele cut it to 3-2, scoring 57 seconds later with wrist shot in the slot at 17:35 after Gabriel Vilardi stole the puck from Dallas forward Jamie Benn behind the net.
“I don’t think we really found [our game] until the third period,” Scheifele said. “It obviously wasn’t a great start, so obviously there are some things that we can do better. We didn’t play great, and we were right in it, so there’s a positive you can take out of it. From there, we can move on to the next one.”
Scheifele missed the previous two games because of an undisclosed injury sustained during the first period of Game 5 in the first round against the St. Louis Blues.
“It was awful,” Scheifele said of having to watch Games 6 and 7. “It’s a feeling that you don’t want to wish on anyone. It was tough to watch, but obviously just super proud of the boys for that Game 7 comeback and win and to make sure my season wasn’t ended. That was amazing by them and now we’ve moved on to another series.”
NOTES: Rantanen entered Wednesday tied with Mario Lemieux who had a point on nine straight playoff goals with the 1992 Penguins. … Dallas won the opening game of a playoff series for the first time since the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, ending an eight-game skid in series openers. … Stars forward Jason Robertson skated 13:34 in his first game of the playoffs after missing the first round with a lower-body injury. Robertson led Dallas with 35 goals in 82 regular-season games and was second with 80 points, behind forward Matt Duchene (82). … Winnipeg outhit Dallas 46-24. … Scheifele led all Jets players with seven shots on goal, and has seven points (three goals, four assists) in six games in these playoffs.
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