On the opening night of the 2024-25 season, Mikko Rantanen had a secure spot on the top line next to teammate Nathan MacKinnon with the Colorado Avalanche.
A full 82-game season and one playoff round later, Rantanen's third-period hat trick with the Dallas Stars puts an end to Colorado's season and aspirations for another Stanley Cup.
You can't make this up.
To many eyes around the league, the question begs: "How can you not be romantic about hockey?"
Fans of the Avalanche surely don't think so. Poetic? Sure. But games like this, where the season for one of the deepest rosters this team has had in a long time is ended by the player they traded away, might seem more like an ending meant for nightmares, not storybooks.
This moment. Our house. Our Moose. 🫎🧢🧢🧢 pic.twitter.com/flRy3pNSrH
— X - Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 4, 2025
A three-goal, four-point performance from Mikko Rantanen in Game 7. A four-goal third period from the Stars. Nothing to say but the Colorado Avalanche fell apart after, arguably, playing the better game for 40 minutes.
The Timeline of the Game
Despite remaining scoreless, the first period tilted slightly in Dallas' favor. A double-minor high-sticking call on Dallas was a squandered opportunity for Colorado to find the lead.
In the second period, things begin to pick up. In what should be an opportunity on the man-advantage for Dallas thanks to a Sam Malinski interference call, Colorado gets the first goal of the game shorthanded. Logan O'Connor creates a turnover just below the blue line, carries the puck into the O-zone, and locates Josh Manson cruising down the slot, who then scores. Manson's shot hits the post, banks off of Oettinger, and finds the back of the net.
A SHORTY FOR MANSON FROM O'CONNOR!!#GoAvsGo | #BuiltDifferentpic.twitter.com/12fs4kUo62
— x - Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 4, 2025
Going scoreless the rest of the period, the Avalanche head into the third period up 1-0.
Colorado starts the third period drawing a tripping penalty from Dallas. As Mackenzie Blackwood heads to the bench, MacKinnon, like a rocket, skates on as the sixth player while they have possession. Lindgren finds him with a quick pass as he cruises down the left side, and MacKinnon finds a window through Oettinger's loose coverage of the post to put the Avalanche up 2-0.
Do you believe in (MacKinnon) magic 🪄#GoAvsGo | #BuiltDifferentpic.twitter.com/nE5nfK6z0v
— x - Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 4, 2025
After that, the floodgates opened for Dallas.
An offensive turnover by the Avalanche creates a rush from Dallas going the other way, Rantanen finds the puck, and loose coverage down the middle. The space gives him an open shooting lane, and he scores, cutting Colorado's lead in half.
Almost six minutes later, Rantanen also finds the game-tying goal on the power play. Colorado's defense lets Rantanen skate through to create the opportunity, it falls off of his stick, and just as Sam Girard gets to the post to cover the open net, the puck goes off of his skate and gets past Blackwood to make the game 2-2.
Wyatt Johnston finds the game-winner for Dallas just over two minutes later, another power-play goal. Jack Drury gets a defensive-zone call for holding right after a faceoff, giving Dallas a man-advantage late in regulation. With scrunched coverage from Colorado's penalty-killers, Johnston finds himself all alone on Blackwood's blocker-side, and the Avalanche goaltender can't get over in time to cover the wide-open net, nor the cross-crease pass that turns into a goal.
MR. GAME 7 WYATT JOHNSTON! HE'S ONLY 21! pic.twitter.com/gSy8oqS6RG
— X - Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 4, 2025
With Blackwood pulled, Colorado couldn't seem to find consistent possession in the O-zone as the time ticked closer to zero. Dallas was all over them with pressure, which created a turnover near the blue line. Tyler Seguin finds an already-moving Rantanen heading toward Colorado's empty net, and with a quick neutral-zone pass, the former Colorado forward completes the third-period hat trick and puts a cap on the game for Dallas with three seconds remaining on the clock.
Takeaways from Game 7 and the Series
Put simply, Colorado's inability to convert on the power play cost them this series, only highlighted by tonight's 0-3 performance. With a four-minute man advantage early in the game, Colorado seemingly couldn't put a good enough sequence together to challenge the Stars' penalty-killers, or Oettinger, enough to find the net.
The power play was only successful 3/22 times this series. Head Coach Jared Bednar said postgame that he liked the first chance in last night's game, and the power play seemed dangerous to start the series, which he would've liked to see them continue.
Tough capitalizing on our chances, for sure. I think our first power play tonight was probably my favorite. The refs continued to call the game, we got a couple opportunities later in the game to get a lead, stretch out a lead, and we didn't capitalize. One of them we weren't that dangerous, they came down and put it in the back of the net, so it's obviously a big, big swing and turning point in the series. Obviously, you'd like it to be more dangerous than what it was at times in the series.- Coach Bednar on the power play failures in this series.
The X-factor for Bednar was Rantanen, who was quiet for Dallas in the first four games, but woke up in the last three. Last night's performance capped off an 11-point (6 goals/5 assists) run in three games. Rantanen now leads among postseason skaters in points with 12.
That's the thing with Mikko, it's not about always just creating multiple chances like every time he touches the puck, but big moments. Look at that first goal, pretty nice individual effort, rips it off the bar down and finds a way to get the other one on the wrap around. Hits our skate, but it's still a high-quality play, and he capitalizes on it. He can capitalize, that's what he is. He's a pure goal scorer. He did that in the third.- Coach Bednar on Mikko Rantanen
So... What's Next?
Though the season may be over, there's still lots to do for this Avalanche team over the next few days.
Avalanche Media Relations has not yet released any information regarding exit interviews, but that will be the next step. Most, if not all, of the roster and Coach Bednar should be available to talk about a season that will live on in NHL history books due to the chain of events leading up to and following the trade deadline.
The 2025 NHL draft is set to take place on June 27th and 28th. As of today, May 4th, Colorado has two draft picks in the 4th and 7th rounds.
July 1st marks the beginning of the 2025 Free Agency period.
After that, the next big thing to look forward to will be Colorado Avalanche Development Camp, which, if past years are anything to go by, should take place sometime early in July.