Mikko Rantanen’s hat trick dooms Avalanche in brutal Game 7 loss
DALLAS The Colorado Avalanche was less than minutes away from exorcising selected playoff demons An old friend created a new one Mikko Rantanen dragged the Dallas Stars back from a two-goal deficit in the final period and a late Wyatt Johnston tally finished off one of the biggest collapses in Colorado franchise history a - loss in Competition of this Stanley Cup Playoffs series Saturday night at American Airlines Center Rantanen and fellow ex-Avs forward Matt Duchene set up Johnston s series-winner which came with remaining and seconds after Jack Drury went to the penalty box for hauling down Tyler Seguin near the Avalanche net Rantanen cut Colorado s lead in half with remaining in the third period It was the third goal and team-leading ninth point of the series for Rantanen who was traded by the Avalanche in late January to Carolina and then to Dallas six weeks later ahead of the deadline The guy who had goals and points in career playoff games in an Avalanche uniform tied this contest at - with remaining It came at the end of a Stars power play with Cale Makar in the box Rantanen attempted a wraparound shot and it went off Samuel Girard and into the net For nearly two and a half periods the Avalanche had put up a defensive wall Rantanen busted it down with two individual efforts The last time these two teams played a Tournament in this city -year-old Josh Manson was in the building at Reunion Arena His father Dave was a rugged defenseman for the Stars and his company held off a late rally by the Avalanche in a - domination to advance to the Stanley Cup Final Manson scored the biggest goal of his life midway through the second period For the second time in this series Logan O Connor created a massive shorthanded goal Roope Hintz entered the Colorado zone and tried to connect with Mikko Rantanen near the right point O Connor deflected the puck into the neutral zone then punched it forward again into the Dallas end and outraced Thomas Harley to it O Connor stopped turned and snapped a pass to Manson cutting to the net His shot went off the right post but bounced off the back of Jake Oettinger and into the net Nathan MacKinnon scored the first Competition goal of his career to make it a - lead MacKinnon came off the bench as an extra attacker during a delayed penalty on the Stars Ryan Lindgren had the puck at the left point and gave to his hard-charging teammate MacKinnon went around Wyatt Johnston in the left faceoff circle and flipped a quick shot between Oettinger and the near post just seconds into the third period Dallas coach Peter DeBoer was - in his career in Tournament s before this contest The eight wins is tied for the majority by a coach or member in NHL history He was also - in series against Jared Bednar and the Avalanche winning one time with three different teams San Jose Vegas and Dallas MacKinnon had lost all four of his Meeting s including in against the Stars He had just one point in those four contests The Stars defeated the Avalanche in seven games during the playoffs inside the NHL s Covid bubble in Edmonton Current Avs forward Joel Kiviranta scored the winner completing the second Event hat trick in league history Dallas knocked Colorado out last season with Duchene scoring the series-ending goal in overtime of Encounter Each of the previous two postseasons ended with a loss on home ice but also with a locomotive-sized hole in the lineup because Valeri Nichushkin had left the group in the middle of the series There s no obvious excuse to fall back on this time Related Articles Avalanche-Stars Challenge slapshots Mikko Rantanen sticks in the dagger with hat trick for the ages As Championship beckons Avalanche s respect for Mikko Rantanen has not wavered Avalanche vs Stars Match Four keys for Colorado to advance to second round Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog named finalist for Masterton Trophy Renck TV schedule is heck for Event heaven But let s savor Nuggets Avs moment The Avs were the healthier company for the entire series Two of Dallas best players No defenseman Miro Heiskanen and goal-scoring leader Jason Robertson did not play at any point Colorado enjoyed the triumphant emotional return of captain Gabe Landeskog after nearly three years away and his on-ice play has been beyond anyone s wildest expectations Just like a year ago a longer-than-expected offseason has arrived Landeskog s recovery removes one captain-sized question that has dominated the past couple of offseasons There are plenty of other hard questions and the answers may not be easy to find There were four unrestricted free agents in the lineup Saturday night led by No center Brock Nelson Beyond who re-signs or who replaces the departed players a different question will loom over everything how does this franchise find its way back to the top of the mountain given all that it s tried and traded in new years to match its magical run Not to mention how to recover from such a stunning defeat Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis
