Mikko Rantanen made sure the Colorado Avalanche missed him in Game 7 of their first-round series against the Dallas Stars in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Rantanen scored a third-period hat trick against his former team to lead the Stars to the second round with a 4-2 comeback win on Saturday night.

Rantanen won a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche. He grew up and matured into a superstar with the Avalanche. While he's officially in a new phase of his career, you'll forgive him for feeling a little bittersweet about burying guys he used to enter grueling hockey battles with all the time. You don't just forget those kinds of memories.

Rantanen is the first player in NHL history to score a hat trick in the third period of a Game 7, and the first to record multiple four-point periods in a single postseason after also achieving the feat with a goal and three assists in the second period of Game 6.