This Stanley Cup playoff first-round series was on the brink of being one-sided — but it is shaping up to be a long slog.
The Dallas Stars rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in overtime on Monday night to send their Western Conference quarterfinal matchup to Denver tied 1-1, with Game 3 on Wednesday night.
And a rivalry that has a storied playoff history dating back to 1999 is adding a new twist: Mikko Rantanen coming off the opposing bench.
The 28-year-old Finnish winger helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup three seasons ago, but stalled contract negotiations led to a Jan. 24 trade to Carolina, which flipped him to Dallas at the March 7 deadline.
Rantanen played once in Denver since joining the Stars, a 4-3 overtime loss on March 16, but the playoffs, of course, are a different level of intensity.
That might be a reason the two-time All-Star has no points and is a minus-3 in the first two games, but unfamiliarity could also be a contributing factor. He played 20 games with Dallas before the playoffs after 619 in eight-plus seasons with the Avalanche — many of those games skating on the same line as Nathan MacKinnon.
“Look, he played in one place for a decade,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “And he played with one guy for almost a decade, and no one else in the league has that guy. He’s got a lot on his plate. I don’t think anyone should be surprised that this hasn’t come easily and all at once.”
The pressure increased after Jason Robertson, Dallas’ leading goal-scorer, went down with a knee injury in the last game of the regular season. Now, Rantanen will deal with an arena that once loved him but will be hostile toward him.
Adding to the emotion is the expected return of Colorado’s beloved captain, Gabriel Landeskog, who has not played since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. Landeskog has undergone multiple surgeries on his right knee, including a cartilage transplant in 2023.
Landeskog was added to the active roster before Game 2 and warmed up with the team prior to the opening faceoff. However, he was scratched in favor of Miles Wood.
“Gabe wanted to get into a groove and take warmup, get in the room and be a part of it, so that’s why I did that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.
With the injury to forward Ross Colton and the miscue by Wood in overtime on Monday night, Landeskog’s first NHL game in nearly three years could occur Wednesday night. He was a top-six forward before his injury but will likely skate as a bottom-six forward — unless the second line continues to struggle.
Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin didn’t score in the first two games, and Bednar was blunt when asked what he needs from that trio.
“I need to see more,” he said Monday night.
He has been happy with goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who entered the series with no playoff experience but has played well with 58 saves on 63 shots, including big saves that helped Colorado win Game 1.
