Bruins Lose in OT to Rantanen's Hat Trick, and Somehow Everybody's Still Happy

The Bruins walked into Dallas on a five-game winning streak. They walked out with a 3-2 overtime loss, one point, and a whole lot of compliments for themselves. Honestly? Fair.

Mikko Rantanen scored all three Dallas goals Tuesday night at American Airlines Center, the last one on a power play at 3:52 of overtime. Boston is now 7-2-1. Dallas is 5-3-1.

How it went down

Matthew Poitras put Boston up 1-0 at 2:09 of the first period with a one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice pass by defenseman Frederic Brunet, NHL.com reported.

Rantanen tied it at 2:50 of the second, burying the rebound after Jason Robertson poked at it. Then rookie James Hagens put Boston back up 2-1 at 7:30 of the second. Casey Mittelstadt carried the puck out from behind the net and passed it to the crease, and Hagens redirected it over Jake Oettinger's pad.

Boston held Dallas to two shots on goal in the entire third period. Two. And one of them still found a way. At 13:38 of the third, Charlie McAvoy blocked a Roope Hintz shot in the slot, and the puck bounced right to Rantanen in the right circle, who snapped it in. You block the shot and it still goes in. Hockey is a cruel sport.

Overtime

Jeremy Swayman kept it alive in overtime, stopping Wyatt Johnston on two breakaways 10 seconds apart, according to the AP. Then Boston took a penalty, and on the 4-on-3, Miro Heiskanen found Rantanen down low on the left side. NHL.com says Rantanen stickhandled for a while and beat Swayman with a backhand. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said Rantanen "held on to for I think 60 seconds before he made his move." Sixty seconds is a lot of time to give Mikko Rantanen.

The record book

It was Rantanen's 11th career hat trick and his 321st career goal, tying Olli Jokinen for third-most by a Finnish player in NHL history, NHL.com reported. He's now the 15th player in league history with more than one overtime hat trick.

Swayman finished with 22 saves. Oettinger made 18 for Dallas.

The power play, again

Boston went 0 for 4 on the power play. In fairness, Dallas came in allowing an NHL-best 1.5 goals a game and had the league's fourth-best penalty kill, and the Stars have allowed one power-play goal on opponents' last 25 chances, according to the AP. But the Globe points out Boston has scored on the power play in only two of its 10 games. That's not a Dallas problem. That's a Bruins problem.

What Dallas said

Rantanen gave the Bruins credit. "It was a hard hockey game. They're a really good team. Physical, big D, big guys there. Just happy with the win," he said, according to NHL.com. Gulutzan said the same thing a different way: "They're a hard team to play. You've got to find a way. That's just the League right now. It's hard to dominate anybody for a long period of time." He also said, "The power play came through on the 4-on-3." Yes it did, coach.

Stars defenseman Tyler Myers on Rantanen: "He's a guy that takes over games." The crowd of 18,532, per ESPN, got its money's worth.

Why nobody's panicking

Coach Marco Sturm was in a good mood. "I thought the guys played great, I really do," he said. "Deserved definitely a point. A little unfortunate to give up the second point, but looking back, what a great road trip."

He's got a point. Boston finished the four-game Western trip 3-0-1, and after Tuesday, ESPN's standings had the Bruins first in the Atlantic Division with 15 points, one ahead of Tampa Bay.

Swayman was feeling it too: "It's been the best trip ever, just because of the camaraderie and the way we've competed and been able to just stick together every single day." Nikita Zadorov said Boston did "a pretty good job overall defensively" and that on the overtime winner, "Mikko made an unbelievable play there. Just got to tip the hat." Boston also had a 22-13 edge in blocked shots.

Dez's take

The kids are the story. Hagens and Poitras scored both goals, and the Globe's headline literally says the Bruins youngsters impressed again. A team that was supposed to be rebuilding is in first place in October. But a power play that has shown up in two of 10 games is going to cost real points eventually. Sturm can enjoy the trip. The power-play unit should not.

What's next

The Bruins come home to host Nashville on Thursday.