Avalanche completely choke in Game 7 as Mikko Rantanen sends them home

The Colorado Avalanche completely collapsed in Game 7 on Saturday night in Dallas.

And their season is now over after a miserable, horrible, terrible finish.

The Avs were up 2-0 early in the third period, then gave up a hat trick to old friend Mikko Rantanen to lose 4-2.

It’s an absolutely unfathomable way for this year to end.

Nathan MacKinnon made it 2-0 Colorado just 31 seconds into the third period, then they fell apart. Rantanen cut it to 2-1 about seven minutes later and tied it on the power-play with 6:14 to go. Avs center Jack Drury committed a silly holding penalty moments after, and Dallas took the lead on a Wyatt Johnston power-play goal with less than four minutes to go.

To add salt in the wound, Rantanen scored an empty-netter with only three seconds left to secure the win and send the Stars to Round 2. The Avalanche are out of the playoffs in Round 1 for the second time in three years. They’ve won just one series since taking the Stanley Cup in 2022.

Unfortunately, things looked good for a long time. The first goal of the game came from an unlikely player in an unlikely situation. Raise your hand if you had Colorado defenseman Josh Manson making it 1-0 on a shorthanded tally? Now, put it down.

Penalty-kill specialist Logan O’Connor created some chaos, found Manson, and he beat Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger off the post and in to make it 1-0 Avs.

Sometimes a Game 7 can be unpredictable, and in this case it was Manson to give the Avs the first goal of the game. It was 1-0 good guys heading into the second intermission, but ultimately it didn’t matter.

The first period was highlighted by a big missed opportunity from the Avalanche. About 8.5 minutes into the frame, Stars captain Jamie Benn cross-checked Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin in the face.

Not only did the infraction put the Avs on the power play, but Nichushkin was bleeding and might have even lost a tooth. Colorado got a 5-on-4 for four minutes, but couldn’t capitalize. That sent a jolt into the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but the period was still a slog.

After 20 minutes, it was 0-0 with only nine shots on goal combined. Five came from the Avalanche and four from the Stars, as both Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and Oettinger made solid saves, but neither had to be spectacular.

Still, this night is going to be about what happened in the final 12 minutes. And it was Rantanen of all people sending Colorado home for the summer.

Avs GM Chris MacFarland traded him back in January. Rantanen played only 13 games for the Carolina Hurricanes before he was moved to the Stars right before the NHL trade deadline. Now, he showed MacFarland why they should’ve found a way to do a long-term deal.

Colorado’s season ends on May 3, way sooner than anyone would have liked or predicted. And an offseason of questions now awaits, including the immediate future of head coach Jared Bednar and perhaps even MacFarland. He was the one who traded Rantanen, after all, and No. 96 buried the Avalanche in Game 7.

A year that had legitimate championship aspirations is over. It’s hard to wrap your mind around, and you can believe ownership and some of the front office are having a similar problem.

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