Remember how Mikko Rantanen always seems to be where the storm hits hardest? Yup, he’s back in the hot seat; again. Ever since landing with the Dallas Stars, fans were hyped to see a spark of that old Colorado magic. But instead of lighting up the scoreboard, it’s been a bumpy ride, like, really bumpy. Just 1 goal and 3 helpers in his last 5 outings? That’s not quite the glow-up Dallas was hoping for. And just when things couldn’t get messier, a few days ago Rantanen crashed, literally, into the Flames’ Connor Zary in a brutal third-period moment that had everyone in the arena holding their breath. Zary hit the ice clutching his knee, the pain written all over his face, and social media lit up with fans furious at Rantanen’s recklessness.
Turns out, Zary avoided a full-on disaster, no broken leg, thank the hockey gods, but still, it stung hard for the Flames, especially with the playoffs breathing down their necks. The timing couldn’t have been worse either, Zary had just made his comeback from a knee injury. Seeing him go down like that again? Total nightmare. And this ain’t even the first time Rantanen’s stirred up trouble; he recently had a sketchy run-in with Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner too. With all these chaotic collisions stacking up, Rantanen’s reputation is taking hit after hit. And now, the so-called Public Enemy #1 Mikko Rantanen flips the script, lighting it up and keeping Dallas Stars fans clinging to the edge of their seats with his fiery playoff performance.
“Rantanen empty-netter for the hat trick. Wow. No Heiskanen, no Robertson, no problem. The Dallas Stars win a Stanley Cup level series with the rival Colorado Avalanche, one of the best series I’ve ever covered,” Pierre LeBrun dropped this gem on X, and it hit like a thunderclap. With the Stars missing two of their biggest names, it was Mikko Rantanen who went full-blown beast mode in Game 7, silencing the doubters, turning the tide, and tossing all that earlier hate right out the Zamboni door.
And just when fans thought they’d seen it all, ᴀʀᴅᴀ Öᴄᴀʟ chimed in with a jaw-dropper: “Mikko Rantanen is the first player in NHL history with a game 7 third period hat trick.” Yep, you read that right. Rantanen pulled off a third-period miracle that had jaws on the floor and the arena straight-up levitating. From public enemy to playoff legend, the man just wrote himself into hockey’s wildest chapter.
Rantanen empty-netter for the hat trick. Wow.
No Heiskanen, no Robertson, no problem. The Dallas Stars win a Stanley Cup level series with the rival Colorado Avalanche, one of the best series I’ve ever covered.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 4, 2025
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