The season for the Colorado Avalanche, which began with aspirations for another Stanley Cup championship, has ended in perhaps the most stunning and frustrating ways possible.
Not only did they blow what was a 2-0 lead in the third period of Game 7 against the Dallas Stars, but had to watch former Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen score a hat trick as part of the Stars’ 4-2 victory at American Airlines Center.
The Stars have now advanced to the Semi-Final while coach Pete DeBoer won his ninth career Game 7; meanwhile, the Avalanche are heading for a long offseason.
The Avalanche Blew Their 2-0 Lead In The Third Period
Neither team found the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes of play, meaning that the sell-out crowd in attendance could anticipate a low-scoring and tight-checking affair.
The ice was broken by Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson, who scored a shorthanded goal in the second period to give Colorado the 1-0 lead that they’d take into the second intermission.
Shortly into the third period, the Avalanche picked up what they thought was a valuable insurance goal from Nathan MacKinnon. But just when it seemed like they had a victory locked up, their former teammate revealed that he had other plans.
Rantanen scored twice for the Stars in a span of just under five minutes of play, knotting the score at 2-2. While it looked like overtime could be on the horizon, a careless penalty from Colorado’s Jack Drury gave Wyatt Johnston an opportunity he wouldn’t miss:
MR. GAME 7 WYATT JOHNSTON! HE'S ONLY 21! pic.twitter.com/gSy8oqS6RG
— X – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 4, 2025
For good measure, Rantanen added his third goal of the night into Colorado’s vacated cage with goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood on the bench for an extra attacker:
MIKKO RANTANEN HAT TRICK TO ELIMINATE HIS OLD TEAM 🤯
CINEMA 🍿 pic.twitter.com/pYcJFeMTYS
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 4, 2025
3 Avalanche Players Who Failed to Deliver In Heartbreaking Game 7 Loss
#1. Jack Drury
While Drury fit in nicely with the Avalanche after being acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes (ironically, in the trade that sent Rantanen to Raleigh for what proved to be only a few weeks), his unbelievable blunder late in the third period proved beyond costly.
Drury’s penalty, in which he wrapped his arms around Stars forward Tyler Seguin and tackled him to the ice with just 4:13 left in the third period of a 2-2 tie in Game 7, directly led to the winning power-play goal from Johnston.
Drury may have several more years ahead of him in his NHL career, but that’s a moment that he’ll have a hard time living down.
#2. Artturi Lehkonen
Lehkonen, who came into Game 7 having already scored three goals in the opening six games of the series, was nowhere to be found for the Avalanche in their most important outing of the season.
Playing in just under 21 minutes of ice time, Lehkonen not only finished with zero points but also failed to register a single shot on goal.
He also finished with a -1 rating and committed a giveaway.
#3. MacKenzie Blackwood
The Avalanche goaltender, who was acquired by the club earlier in the season from the San Jose Sharks, was the biggest reason why they got off to a 1-0 series lead.
While his performance dipped up and down, his play was well enough aside from Game 5 that his teammates had the chance to win.
Unfortunately, he picked a bad time to have a bad 20 minutes. Blackwood allowed three goals to Dallas in the third period; he finished the game having made only 15 saves on 18 shots, a .833 save percentage.