05/03/25 10:29:00
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05/03 22:27 CDT Rantanen has hat trick as Stars rally past Avalanche 4-2 in
Game 7 to advance to 2nd round
Rantanen has hat trick as Stars rally past Avalanche 4-2 in Game 7 to advance
to 2nd round
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
DALLAS (AP) --- Mikko Rantanen assisted on Wyatt Johnston's tiebreaking
power-play goa l with 3:56 left before completing a third-period hat trick with
an empty-netter as the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Game 7
on Saturday night to wrap up the first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Rantanen, who was in the playoffs with the Avalanche the past seven seasons and
part of their 2022 Stanley Cup title, had his second four-point period in the
series. He is only the second player in NHL history to have four points in the
third period of a Game 7.
The Stars move on to the second round to face top-seeded Winnipeg or St. Louis,
who play their own Game 7 on Sunday night. The Jets would have home ice if they
advance, while Dallas would start at home if facing the Blues.
Colorado had taken a 2-0 lead when Nathan MacKinnon made a short snap shot only
31 seconds into the third period. It was the first goal he has scored in five
Game 7s, but all of those are losses.
Traded twice in a six-week period earlier this season, first from Colorado to
Carolina and then to Dallas in a deadline deal that included a $96 million,
eight-year contract extension, Rantanen had five goals and seven assists in the
series against his original team.
Rantanen got Dallas' first goal with 12:11 left on a shot from above the middle
of circles. He tied the game at 2 with 6:14 left went he skated behind the net
and took a wraparound shot that ricocheted off the skate of Avs defenseman
Samuel Girard behind goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. Rantanen then sealed the win
with an empty-netter with 3 seconds remaining to complete his first career
playoff hat trick.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, playing in a Game 7 for the fourth postseason in a
row, had 24 saves. He is 3-1 in those games.
Blackwood stopped 15 shots, including one in the second period to keep the game
scoreless with his right leg fully extended to the post while Mikael Granlund
tried a wide sweeping shot from the front of the crease.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer became the first player or coach in NHL history to be
part of nine Game 7 victories. He is 9-0 in Game 7s, a record accumulated with
four different teams since 2012. His first came with New Jersey, and he has
since had three each with San Jose and Dallas and two with Vegas. The Stars
have won a seven-game series in each of his first three seasons with them.
The Avalanche have now lost seven Game 7s in a row since 2002, the last four
with coach Jared Bednar.
Dallas has won all four Game 7s it has played against Colorado, and reached the
Stanley Cup Final after each of the first three. They went to seven games in
the Western Conference Final in both 1999 and 2000, and the Stars won a
seven-game series in the second round of the pandemic-impacted 2020 playoffs
inside the Canadian bubble.
Josh Manson put the Avs ahead 1-0 on a short-handed goal midway through the
second period when they got another fortunate bounce.
Two nights after Colorado avoided elimination at home when its go-ahead goal in
Game 6 came on a puck bounced off a Dallas player, Manson's shot ricocheted off
the post and then the back of Oettinger's left shoulder before trickling over
the line.
Oettinger and the Stars killed off a four-minute penalty through the first
period when their captain Jamie Benn got a double minor for a high stick to the
face of Valeri Nichuskin in front of the Colorado net. The Avalanche had three
shots on goal and missed four others.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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