The Colorado Avalanche needed to be perfect for 13 minutes away from advancing to the 2nd round of the playoffs.
That was until an old friend turned out the lights.
Mikko Rantanen had his second four-point period in the series, scoring a hat-trick and an assist on the go-ahead goal to cap off one of the biggest implosions in Colorado franchise history. It was a common theme throughout the series for the Avalanche — coughing up third-period leads. This time, they weren’t able to recover. They went into the final frame up 1-0, added to that lead early, but ended up down by two. This 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Stars in Game 7 of the First Round Stanley Cup Playoffs series Saturday evening at American Airlines Center won’t be forgotten for a long time.
It’s safe to say. Rantanen got the last laugh. He’s just the second player in NHL history to have four points in the third period of a Game 7, and to do it against his old team has to be even sweeter. He was in the playoffs with the Avalanche for the past seven seasons and was a part of their 2022 Stanley Cup title run. But on January 25, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes. He would play 13 games for that organization before being dealt to Dallas on March 7, and immediately signed an eight-year contract extension.
Rantanen snapped a shot by Mackenzie Blackwood to make it a 2-1 game. Six minutes later, he scored again on the power play when his wrap-around shot bounced off Sam Girard’s skate and in to tie the game, assisted on Wyatt Johnston’s go-ahead power play goal nearly four minutes later, and sealed the deal on an empty-net goal to slap his old team in the face. They traded him and went on to subsequently lose single-handedly to him. Talk about humiliating.
It’s going to be a very interesting offseason for the Avalanche. The move to trade Rantanen along with a myriad of other trades was a Stanley Cup or bust move, and boy was it a bust. All of their picks from the 2025 and 2026 NHL drafts are gone, including Calum Ritchie. And Brock Nelson is likely gone this summer. This was the second first-round exit in the playoffs in the past three seasons.
But for Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer, he devoured yet again, improving his undefeated record in Game 7s to nine games. The Avalanche held a 2-0 lead going into the third period. However, Dallas scored four in the third period, three of which came from Mikko Rantanen, who Colorado traded on January 25 to the Carolina Hurricanes. The 2022 Stanley Cup champion played 13 games for the Canes before being dealt to Dallas on March 7.
Dallas made their adversaries pay for every mistake. That was the series. Dallas was missing two key players in Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson, and it didn’t matter. Colorado found a way to lose again. Whether it was defensive turnovers, penalties, or failing to execute on the man-advantage, the Avs did everything to lose. And in the end, that’s exactly what they did, and for the second year in a row against the same coach and the same team.
Colorado has not won a Game 7 since May 15, 2002, when they defeated Owen Nolan and the San Jose Sharks 1-0 in the Western Conference semifinals.
Jake Oettinger stopped 25 of 27 shots, and Blackwood saved 15 of 19 shots.
First Period
Colorado got their offense going to start the game, but Oettinger came up with the quick save. But 2:15 into the game, Parker Kelly was penalized for pulling down Ilya Lyubushkin to the ice. The official call was holding, and Dallas went on their first power play of the game. The Avs managed to hold the Stars to one shot on goal and killed the penalty.
Dallas’ Tyler Seguin, who won the Stanley Cup as a rookie in 2011 with the Boston Bruins, was making his 10th appearance in a Game 7. He attempted to get something going early with Mikko Rantanen, but to no avail.
Colorado went on their first power play when Jamie Benn was given a double-minor penalty for cross-checking Nichushkin in the face.
As has been the case for most of the series, the Avs failed to convert despite having many quality chances.
With 6:27 left in the period, Rantanen broke free and penetrated the Avalanche defensive zone, but Blackwood gloved his backhander.
Both teams’ first 20 minutes were mostly a defensive masterclass. At the end of the period, the game remained scoreless, and Colorado held a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Second Period
The second frame was more of the same, but this time, Colorado broke the ice to give themselves the lead. It all went down after Sam Malinski was penalized for interference on Roope Hintz. However, while shorthanded, the Avalanche dumped it, and Logan O’Connor, who’s traditionally a beast on the penalty kill, outhustled Thomas Harley to the puck on the left wing. He looked up and centered a pass to Manson, who snapped it off the post and in for the goal.
The replay showed that the Stars lost their concentration for about 10 seconds. Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene were caught out of position, and the Avalanche capitalized. It was a beautiful moment because Dallas had consistently punished the Avalanche throughout the series after making critical mistakes. This time, Colorado finally countered them. And it couldn’t have come at a better time, Game 7.
Third Period
Thirty-one seconds into the final period, MacKinnon made it a 2-0 game when he came off the bench with a full head of steam, accepted a pass from Ryan Lindgren, drove the puck to the net, and flicked the puck off Oettinger’s pads and into the net. It was MacKinnon’s first-career goal in a Game 7.
With 12:11 left in the game, Rantanen got Dallas on the board when he snapped a scintillating wrister through traffic and beat him clean. And just like that, we had a game again.
The Avalanche caught a break with 9:11 left when Duchene stuck his stick around and took out Necas to put Colorado on the power play. However, Cale Makar went to the box for tripping Hintz near the Colorado net when the latter had a chance to tie up the game. But while this was happening, Necas lost his balance, crashed into the boards, and appeared to have suffered an injury, possibly to his wrist.
Rantanen tied the game at two with 6:14 to go when he scored on a wrap-around marker that bounced off Girard’s skate and in for an own goal.
Jack Drury was penalized for holding with 4:11 when he took down Tyler Seguin in front of the net. Johnston scored on the following play on an assist from Rantanen to give Dallas a 3-2 lead with less than four minutes to go.
Rantanen sealed the deal on an empty-netter to send the Dallas fans home happy.
Dallas earned their chances and Mikko Rantanen got the last laugh. He apperently said something to the tune of “how do you like me now” toward the Avalanche bench after netting the hat-trick.
Ouch.#GoAvsGo
— x – Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) May 4, 2025
Takeaways
When the power play is as bad as it was this series, we deserved to lose this series. Sure, our guys got cheap-shotted throughout the series; that’s true. However, we also failed to convert on a multitude of double-minor penalties, including the one on Nichushkin in the opening period. When it happens throughout a series, i.e., the same old stuff with the same response, it’s no surprise that we lost, as much as it hurts to say it. This offseason is going to be a sad one indeed.
See you next year.