Years from now, everyone who watched Wednesday night will remember the electricity of Gabe Landeskog’s remarkable return to the NHL.
His first game back also ended with Mikko Rantanen’s first huge moment in a Dallas Stars uniform. Rantanen was held without a point in this Stanley Cup Playoffs opening-round showdown through the first two games and deep into Game 3, but he was the engine behind the Stars’ winning goal to grab a 2-1 series lead against the Colorado Avalanche.
“He created that goal,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “Both with a defensive play, because first he blocked a shot, then he won a couple of board battles and advanced the puck in order for us to score. There’s a lot of little plays in there that maybe don’t show up on a scoresheet that I thought he made all night.”
The puck wrapped around the boards to Nathan MacKinnon in the Dallas end when Rantanen met his old linemate along the boards. Rantanen was able to knock the puck away from the reigning league MVP, but Jonathan Drouin gained control of it.
So Rantanen went to work on him as well, creating a turnover near the Stars’ blue line. Then Rantanen made a slick bank pass off the boards to Mason Marchment, which started a rush the other way. When Rantanen went to the bench, Tyler Seguin jumped on the ice out in front of Cale Makar and was able to beat him to the spot where Marchment fed him for the biggest goal of the series to date.
This has been a quirky year for Rantanen. His travels, from Colorado to Carolina to Dallas, have been well documented. His first two games in this series were not bad, but they weren’t at the level expected of one of the best wings in the world.
He looked more like the guy Avs fans came to adore for nearly a decade in Game 3.
“We got more offensive zone time and we were on pucks. I was on pucks more,” Rantanen said. “We tried to get more inside, more net front, win some races on the forecheck so we’re not one-and-done in the o-zone. Just extend our o-zone time and make them defend a bit more. That’s what I’ve got to do more of. And as a team, we can still do more of that.”
Rantanen led Dallas’ deep group of forwards in even-strength ice time. When he was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Stars outshot the Avalanche 11-4.
He was also the most active individual offensive player on the club, leading the Stars in shot attempts (6), shots on goal (5), and scoring chances (5).
“That game has been coming,” DeBoer said. “He’s been building his game here. Game 2 was better than Game 1, and Game 3 was better than Game 2. Especially when you re-watch the tape, he won a lot of puck battles. He was heavy. He was hard. He had some good looks to score, just didn’t go in.”
Rantanen played well for the Hurricanes after leaving Denver, but the production didn’t match the underlying numbers. Then he was traded for a second time in six weeks, a rare occurrence in any professional sport but even more stunning for a world-class player.
He immediately signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with Dallas that begins next season. That certainly helped Rantanen feel more comfortable. Having a bunch of familiar faces in the locker room, including ex-Avs star Matt Duchene and several members of the Finnish national team, has also helped.
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The production has been better than in Carolina, but still not back to his Colorado days. But Rantanen looked more like the “Moose” who ran wild at Ball Arena for all those years in Game 3.
“I’m sure he’s still feeling that out. It can take a minute,” Duchene said. “A guy of that caliber comes into a place and everyone has to adjust. He has to adjust. The team has to adjust. It’s a big thing. It’s part of the growing process.
“It’s a lot to adjust to. For me and a lot of the Finnish guys on the team who knew him before, we’ve just tried to jump in and help him as much as we can. But also, he’s a big boy. Guys figure it out on their own as well.”
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