DALLAS (AP) — Mikko Rantanen is now really on the other side, settling in as a Star and going back to Colorado with a chance to advance in the NHL playoffs.
In his first postseason series with Dallas, against his former team no less, Rantanen broke through with first playoff goal and two assists for the Stars in their Game 5 victory that put them on the verge of eliminating the Avalanche for the second year in a row.
“It's reality, I guess,” Rantanen said with a grin Wednesday, the day before Game 6 of the series.
After being in the playoffs with the Avs each of the past seven years and playing with them during 10 seasons, including their Stanley Cup title in 2022, Rantanen was traded twice in a six-week period — first to Carolina on Jan. 24, then to Dallas on March 7 in a deadline deal completed after he agreed to a $96 million, eight-year contract extension.
Playoffs included, the 28-year-old Rantanen has now played 25 games with the Stars.
“That's the biggest thing, I think, is settling in and playing with instinct,” Rantanen said. “The systems and everything, it’s in the back of my mind now, so I don’t have to think about anything on the ice, like where I have to go. It comes with instinct and it’s going to come even more the more games go by. ... Settling is a good word to say, which is always key to playing well.”
It was in Game 6 at Colorado last season that the Stars wrapped up a second-round series on Matt Duchene's goal 11:42 into the second overtime for a 2-1 victory. Rantanen had the lone Avalanche goal in that game.
In Game 3 of this series, his first in the playoffs as an opponent in Colorado, Rantanen had the secondary assist on Tyler Seguin's overtime winner. That was Rantanen's only postseason point for Dallas until Game 5, when his goal came on a 2-on-1 break and some nifty back-and-forth passing with Roope Hintz. He did have 12 shots on goal the first four games.
“He is settling and I think he’s a lot closer than the numbers say. I thought he’s had two or three really good games in this series so far,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “He played great that night in Colorado (Game 3). ... I think he’s stringing together more and more games here where he looks comfortable, and he’s going to make an impact even if the points aren't showing it.”
In 81 career playoff games for Colorado, Rantanen had 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists). His last game with the Avalanche was Jan. 22, but the regular season ended with him still as their third-leading scorer with 64 points (25 goals, 39 assists) in his 49 games there, behind Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
After six points (two goals) in his 13-game stint with Carolina, Rantanen had five goals and 13 assists over the final 20 regular-season games for Dallas, giving him an 82-game total of 88 points (32 goals). It was the seventh time in eight seasons to average more than a point a game, the lone exception in that stretch being 41 points in 42 games in 2019-20.
He is on a line in Dallas with fellow Finnish players Hintz and Mikael Granlund. Hintz, the same age as Rantanen, has played all seven of his NHL seasons with Dallas. The 33-year-old Granlund was acquired from San Jose in a trade on Feb. 1, and has only 11 more games in Dallas than Rantanen.
“They have a history together as Finnish players and national teams and things like that,” DeBoer said. “I don’t know if they played together as a line before, but I think that always speeds up the chemistry when you have a familiarity like that and you know, they’re countrymen, they speak Finnish to each other, they can communicate really easily.”
Duchene played his first eight-plus NHL seasons with Colorado, where his final full season was when Rantanen was a rookie.
“Having him in the room is good,” Duchene said. “You know he's a great player because he behaves like a great player. So, easy guy to bring in.”
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This story has been corrected to show Rantanen had 101 playoff points with Colorado, not 99.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press
