Any defeat in a #7 match is extremely painful, especially when the match is so close and so close.
Losing a #7 game feels like you were so close to advancing to the next round, but so far away at the same time.
In short, it hurts, and the Colorado Avalanche know this all too well.
The Avalanche are the first team in NHL, MLB and NBA history to lose seven consecutive #7 games.
Ouch… Really not the kind of stat you want to see for your team.
In short, each of his seven losses must have hurt the Avalanche players and fans very much, but absolutely none of them hurt as much as the most recent one, last night’s.
Why did it hurt?
Because it was provoked by a former teammate who was much loved in the dressing room, and who left the team that same season under rather adverse conditions.
Mikko Rantanen took matters into his own hands last night, virtually single-handedly eliminating his former team with a hat trick and four total points in the third period.
In short, Rantanen hurt his former team very badly, and he clearly made the Avalanche management regret trading him rather than re-signing him.
Because it’s clear after yesterday’s game that the Avalanche made a big mistake in trading Mikko Rantanen.
The Finnish star was the best player of the series with 12 points in seven games, and he proved to the whole field hockey world that he wasn’t dependent on Nathan MacKinnon to perform at the highest level.
His 12 points represent the NHL’s best harvest to date, with Rantanen sitting atop the playoff scoring charts, one point ahead of Connor McDavid and a certain Nathan MacKinnon.
Rantanen clearly made the difference in this series, and would surely have enabled the Avalanche to win had he still been with the team.
It’s also worth noting that Rantanen was much better than Martin Necas in this series, while the man who joined the Avalanche in return for Mikko had five points, including just one goal, in seven games.
Add to this the fact that the other player the Avalanche got in the Rantanen deal in Carolina, Jack Drury, was responsible for the horrendous late-game penalty that allowed Wyatt Johnston to score the winning goal.
This was huge karma for the Avalanche, who had a front-row seat to witness their mistake.
The Avalanche really should have kept Rantanen at his asking price, or at least taken the time to negotiate with him before trading him without warning.
The Stars forward really didn’t appreciate the way he was treated, and neither did Nathan MacKinnon, who was very frustrated and disappointed to see Rantanen leave the Avalanche.
With last night’s performance, and his 11 points in the last three games of the series, Rantanen proved that he doesn’t depend on MacKinnon to perform in this league, and more importantly, he proved once again that he’s a playoff guy.
He’s 7th in NHL history for average points per game in the playoffs.
In short, the Avalanche once again lost a game #7, and let’s just say that since their Stanley Cup in 2022, it’s been very difficult for Colorado, who have only won one series in three years, in 2023 against the Winnipeg Jets.
The same goes for the Avalanche’s opponent in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, as the Tampa Bay Lightning have lost three straight first-round games since that final.
It just goes to show that the playoff format is a tough one, with teams facing off against each other in the first round.
As I’ve said before, for me, this series between the Avalanche and Stars was the final before the final.
In the end, it was the Stars who came out on top, thanks to a certain Mikko Rantanen, who clearly made up for the absence of Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson, the Stars’ best defenseman and best forward respectively.
In fact, MacKinnon can’t believe his team couldn’t beat the Stars without Heiskanen and Robertson.
In a flurry
– Here’s the schedule for the second round.
– Read more.
– A young clutch prodigy.
– Johnston makes history alongside some very big names.
– Of note.
– Incredible.
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