“No one on Dallas gonna stand up for their guy?”: Fans react as Jake Walman rocks Mikko Rantanen with solid open ice hit

During the game at Rogers Place on Saturday, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jake Walman delivered a strong open-ice hit on Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen was skating fast in the offensive zone when Walman stopped him with a shoulder check.

Rantanen’s skates lifted off the ice, and he fell immediately right after. The play continued without any fights and Rantanen scored a goal and an assist in his Dallas Stars debut.

Spittin Chiclets shared the hit on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote:

"WALMAN GETS HIS LICK ON RANTANEN IN OPEN ICE 💥."

Soon the fans started sharing their opinions on Walman's hit on Mikko Rantanen.

"No one on Dallas gonna stand up for their guy?" One fan asked.

"I can’t believe the Wings gave this guy away for nothing," another fan said.

"Solid hit! He's getting that new jersey broken in, tonight," another fan reacted.

Here are some other reactions to hit on Mikko Rantanen:

"Every Highlight I see is just going to make me more mad that he's not still in the Winged Wheel sweater. Stevie Y took a a huge L giving him away like he did," a fan said.

"Rant having a terrible first game with Dallas haha. The bench must be laughing that they paid him this much. Don’t forget Kadri had a 100 points playing with MacKinnon. Huberdeau had 100 playing with Barkov etc. Watch how quick Rant has 60 points a year instead of 100 in Dallas," a fan critiqued Rantanen.

"This is hockey, a perfectly delivered bodycheck separating a "superstar" from the puck," one fan said.

Mikko Rantanen and the Stars lost 5-4 to Oilers despite late comeback

The Dallas Stars lost 5-4 to the Edmonton Oilers despite scoring three goals in the third period. Wyatt Johnston gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 5:48 of the first period on the power play. He scored off a rebound from Mikko Rantanen’s shot. Zach Hyman tied it 24 seconds later, tapping in a pass from Connor McDavid.

Hyman made it 2-1 at 12:26, scoring on a breakaway after receiving a long pass from Jake Walman. Viktor Arvidsson extended Edmonton’s lead to 3-1 at 17:42 with a one-timer from Evan Bouchard’s pass.

McDavid made it 4-1 at 5:20 of the second period, scoring on a breakaway past Jake Oettinger. Connor Brown increased the lead to 5-1 at 17:40 when his blocked pass bounced back to him.

Rantanen started Dallas’ comeback with a power-play goal at 5:06 of the third. Jamie Benn scored 11 seconds later, and Mathew Dumba made it 5-4 at 9:18. However, the Oilers held on to win the game, outshooting the Stars 27-25.