The Colorado Avalanche were yet again eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Dallas Stars. On Saturday, the latter won a winner-take-all Game 7 by a score of 4-2 to advance to the second round.
Stars forward Mikko Rantanen notched a hat-trick, burying his former team in one of the most full circle playoff moments in NHL history. Oh, and by the way, he scored all three goals in the third period alone.
After going down 2-0 earlier in the game, Rantanen single-handedly rallied Dallas to victory by first tying the game within a six-minute span and then hitting an empty-netter to seal the series away.
Mikko Rantanen gets his revenge on Colorado Avalanche with Game 7 hat-trick
Moving on in the Stanley Cup playoffs feels pretty good for a team regardless of who it's up against. But for the Stars and Rantanen, this time it was personal.
Rantanen had a pretty rough contract extension negotiation with Colorado in the months leading up to the 2024-25 regular season as well as leading up to the March trade deadline. He was ultimately dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes, a team he later told he would never re-sign with and thus was moved yet again but to Dallas.
Rantanen signed an eight-year $96 million extension with Dallas after he was acquired, leading to reports emerging that he was originally willing to take a pay cut to stay in Colorado. The team was apparently hung up on a measly $500,000 gap in their respective offers.
Now, the franchise has seen yet another promising season go down the drain when it could've had Rantanen on its side the whole time. The 28-year-old notched at least 100 points in his last two seasons and has so far logged 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the playoffs this year.
Colorado's decisions will be scrutinized this offseason with major reflections needed.
"I donāt know what weāre gonna do," team captain Nathan MacKinnon told reporters in the post-game locker room on Saturday.
How do the Avalanche rebound? We'll find out by their actions in the offseason.