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 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.

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.