Stars stun Avalanche in Game 7 to punch ticket to Round 2
The Dallas Stars completed the comeback against the Colorado Avalanche for a dramatic 4-2 Game 7 victory Saturday night to punch their ticket to Round 2.
Mikko Rantanen led the way with a third-period hat trick against his former team. He also recorded an assist, marking his second four-point game of the series.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2022 and was traded by the club to the Carolina Hurricanes in January, ending his 10-year tenure in Colorado. Understandably, it was a unique handshake line for Rantanen to be in after the game.
"Emotional, they're my brothers," he told ESPN's Emily Kaplan. "I still love every one of them. Obviously, we were enemies in this series on the ice, but they're my dear friends off the ice."
Dallas was down 2-0 after Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon scored in the first minute of the third period. Rantanen then found the back of the net twice, and Wyatt Johnston struck on the power play with less than four minutes to go for the eventual game-winner.
Johnston has played in three career Game 7s and he has scored in all of them.
"There was no quit at any point," said Rantanen, who capped off his hat trick with an empty-netter. "Obviously they get a goal first shift of the third, but we just kept going. There was still chatter on the bench, we knew we had to earn a couple bounces and we did. Big win, so I'm happy for the group."
Netminder Jake Oettinger was outstanding in goal, turning aside 25 of 27 shots. He saved 1.68 goals above expected at all strengths, per Natural Stat Trick.
The Stars are now the first team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to be trailing by multiple goals in the final frame of a Game 7 and win in regulation, according to OptaSTATS.
Colorado opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal by defenseman Josh Manson at the midway mark of the second stanza. He's the first rearguard to score a shorthanded goal in a Game 7 in franchise history, per NHL PR.
Rantanen believes the hard-fought series against the Central Division powerhouse will serve his Stars well in the future.
"I think it prepares us because it's only going to get harder," he said. "How the standings go, sometimes really good teams play in the first round even though maybe they shouldn't.
"I think it prepares us well, we already have a seven-game series. We know, if another one comes, what to do."
Stars head coach Pete DeBoer is now 9-0 all time in Game 7s. The Avalanche, meanwhile, have lost seven straight Game 7s.
Dallas has made the Western Conference Final in each of the past two seasons. The Stars acquired Rantanen from the Hurricanes at the trade deadline to bolster their Stanley Cup chase, and he already rewarded them with the first third-period Game 7 hat trick in NHL history.
"This team has been so close a couple years in a row," Rantanen said. "Hopefully I can help them get even closer."
The Stars pulled off the victory despite being down their No. 1 defenseman in Miro Heiskanen and leading goal-scorer Jason Robertson.
Dallas will face either the Winnipeg Jets or the St. Louis Blues in the next round. They will square off in their own Game 7 on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.