Mikko Rantanen wouldn’t let his new team, the Dallas Stars, lose to his old team, the Colorado Avalanche, in Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round at American Airlines Center on Saturday night.
The Stars trailed by two before Rantanen scored at 7:49 of the third period to make it a one-goal game. He banked in a wraparound at 13:46 to tie the game, then assisted on Wyatt Johnston’s go-ahead power-play goal with 3:56 remaining before finishing a hat trick and his second straight four-point game with an empty-net goal to complete a stunning 4-2 victory.
“There was no quit at any point,” said Rantanen, who was acquired by Dallas from the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7, six weeks after Colorado had traded him to the ’Canes. “We just kept going.”
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead 9:50 into the second period when defenseman Josh Manson scored a short-handed goal. Dallas looked like it was done when Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon scored 31 seconds into the third period during a delayed penalty for a 2-0 lead.
But Rantanen, a two-time 100-point scorer with Colorado and a big part of its Stanley Cup-winning team in 2022, put the Stars on his back and carried them to victory.
Stars coach Peter DeBoer improved his record in Game 7s to 9-0, an NHL record.
Dallas moved into the second round against the winner of Game 7 between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at Canadian Life Centre. The home team has won each of the first six games, with the Blues evening the series with a 5-2 win in Game 6 on Friday night.
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Third-period heroics among 3 takeaways after Stars rally past Avs in Game 7
1. Rantanen fuels another Dallas comeback
The Stars won three games during the regular season when they trailed entering the third period. Thanks to Rantanen, they matched that total in this series by completing their Game 7 comeback.
Dallas managed just 10 shots on goal through two periods and looked like a defeated team after MacKinnon scored for the first time in his five career Game 7s. But Rantanen wouldn’t let them lose.
His laser past Mackenzie Blackwood with 12:11 left cut the deficit to one goal and got the crowd back into the game. The tying goal was a fortunate bounce, but it came because the Stars grabbed the momentum and were pushing the tempo. Rantanen then started the play that led to Johnston’s go-ahead goal, before he put the game away with his empty-net goal.
In all, he had 11 points in the final three games of the series.
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2. Avalanche can’t close the deal
Colorado loaded up at the trade deadline in anticipation of a long playoff run. Instead, they lost their seventh straight Game 7; the last time the Avalanche won a seventh game was the 2002 Western Conference Semifinals against the San Jose Sharks. It was also the fourth time they’ve lost to the Stars in Game 7.
But this one was easily the most painful. The Avalanche were 32-1-2 when leading after two periods during the regular season and appeared to have the game all but locked up after MacKinnon’s goal made it 2-0. Instead, they’re going home for an early summer vacation.
A poor series by star defenseman Cale Makar didn’t help.
While MacKinnon was brilliant, scoring seven goals in the seven-game series, Makar rarely looked like the player who led all defensemen in goals (30) and points (92) during the regular season. He had one goal, five points and was minus-1; in Game 7, he attempted 10 shots, but had six blocked, missed the net on three others and had three giveaways.
3. Stars likely to get reinforcements for second round
Dallas had the home-ice advantage in this series. What the Stars didn’t have was their best defenseman, Miro Heiskanen, and their top goal-scorer, Jason Robertson. But both could be back for round two.
Heiskanen, one of the best defenseman in the NHL, hasn’t played since late January because of a knee injury that required surgery; he’s been practicing but wasn’t ready to go yet. Robertson, who sustained a lower-body injury in the Stars’ season finale after leading them with 35 goals, also was unable to play against Colorado.
Before the Stars’ third-period comeback, it looked like both players would have the summer to get healthy. Instead, Dallas hopes to get each back at some point in the second round.