Along with his offensive prowess, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Rantanen displayed his toughness and ability to take a hit. He was drilled behind his own net by Oilers forward Max Jones at 11:36 of the second period, then got crushed by defenseman Jake Walman at the Dallas blue line with 19 seconds left in the period.
“Sometimes it happens, I can take those, it’s fine,” Rantanen said. “It’s part of hockey and sometimes it wakes you up when you get buried like that. It’s part of the physical game, we knew it was going to be like that, I just have to do a better job trying to avoid those.”
Dallas made it 5-4 game with 10:42 left in the third period but couldn’t get the equalizer with Rantanen on the ice with a goalie Jake Oettinger out for the extra skater.
Rantanen started the game on the right wing with center Roope Hintz and Robertson on the left. Hintz was injured at 9:15 of second period when a shot from Oilers forward Adam Henrique deflected off his stick and up into his face.
“He played with Robertson most of the night, we doubled him up when Roope Hintz went out with some of our fourth line guys to get him out there a little bit more,” DeBoer said. “I liked him on the power play, we’re going to be able to use him a lot of different ways.”
Rantanen said Dallas made a great first impression on him as well.
“I can tell they really like to play with the puck and that’s a big reason why I wanted to come here, they have a lot of good players, they’re a deep team,” Rantanen said. “Even when Roope goes down, he’s one of the best players for sure, we can still score and almost tie the game in the third without him. It tells you how deep the team is and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Rantanen was selected by the Colorado Avalanche No. 10 in the 2015 NHL Draft. The 28-year-old played 11 seasons in Colorado, winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. Colorado, believing it would not be able to sign the pending unrestricted free agent to a new contract after this season, traded him to Carolina in a three-team deal involving the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 24.
On Friday, Carolina flipped him to Dallas for forward Logan Stankoven and four draft picks after it could not sign him to a deal.
“He’s a special player, but I’ve known that for a long time playing against him,” Stars defenseman Matt Dumba said. “It’s an awesome addition to our group and it’s going to be a lot of fun the rest of the way.”
Dallas believes trading for Rantanen could be the final piece to winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1999. The Stars (41-20-2), who lost to the Oilers in the Western Conference Final last season, are second in the Central Division, eight points behind the Winnipeg Jets (44-16-4).
“It means a lot,” Benn said. “It shows that everyone in this organization believes in us, and when you can add a piece like that, that doesn’t come around very often, it’s definitely nice as a player. We lost a great teammate in [Stankoven], one guy everyone loved but that’s part of the business. But to get a player like Mikko is huge for this group.”