Since the Stanley Cup win in 2022, the Avalanche have won just one playoff series and lost two Game 7s in the process. With MacKinnon and Cale Makar at the height of their primes, Colorado has to find a way to get back over the playoff hump for another deep run.

Mikko Rantanen figures he would have left the room in disbelief had someone told him at the beginning of this season that he would score a hat track in a Game 7 against Colorado. After all, that was the organization with which he made his NHL debut just weeks before his 19th birthday.

Dallas Stars right wing Mikko Rantanen circles the ice after scoring a hat trick goal in the third period in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup opening round playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche at the American Airlines Center in Dallas,

The Dallas Stars pulled off the seemingly impossible Saturday night when they overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period of Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche to come away with a 4-2 regulation win.

The Colorado Avalanche entered Game 7 against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night with a chance to snap a six-game losing streak in Game 7's. That did not happen. When all was said and done, the Avalanche blew a 2-0 lead,