Mikko Rantanen's fairy tale has its definitive chapter

From pumpkin to prince.

A week ago, Mikko Rantanen was skating around on his own wearing an orange non-contact jersey and the world wondering whether or not he’d be healthy for the playoffs.

The Avalanche had managed to clinch their postseason berth with Rantanen on the shelf after he suffered an undisclosed injury against the Dallas Stars on March 21. Even if he worked his way back to the ice, would he even be effective?

Following a two-goal performance that included the game-tying goal late in the third period and the winner in overtime, it’s safe to say that whatever Rantanen’s health is, it’s enough.

Rantanen’s second goal came at 10:23 of overtime to give Colorado the 3-2 victory and push the series to the brink as they now lead three games to one. The Avalanche will have their first chance to eliminate the Flames on Friday night in Calgary.

The result tonight wasn’t all that stunning given Colorado’s demolition of the Flames in the second half of the game as they climbed back from a two-goal deficit in the third period as it was Rantanen was the guy getting the job done.

Throughout much of the game, Rantanen looked off physically, still bothered by the injury he rushed to come back from in order to play in this series. There some puck bobbles and he lacked the kind of dominance we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from him when possession the puck in the corners and along the wall.

It still didn’t matter.

Colorado faced Calgary’s power play just moments before Rantanen’s game-winner after Ian Cole was called for delay of game when he shot the puck over the glass. The Flames PP has been responsible for five of their 10 goals through four games but Colorado killed the man-advantage with ease. Immediately after, Colorado went on the attack. It didn’t last long.

Gabe Landeskog moved it to Carl Soderberg and he found Rantanen cross-ice for the one-timer. Rantanen was being marked by Mikael Backlund, Calgary’s defensive stopper who is getting exposed and obliterated through four games, and Backlund sagged down towards his own goal. Seeing this, Rantanen stopped driving the net, slowed up, opened the passing lane, and fired a bullet past Mike Smith when Soderberg found him.

The goal gave Rantanen two in just as many periods as he deflected a puck behind Smith just seconds into a power play late in the third period to tie the game. The two goals pushed Rantanen ahead of Nathan MacKinnon for the scoring lead through four games as he now has six points (3g, 3a) to MacKinnon’s five (3g, 2a).

That’s really the story of this series so far. Colorado’s stars have shown up and dominated. Rantanen, MacKinnon, and Landeskog have combined for 14 points through four games and have put the Avalanche on the brink of their first second-round appearance since 2008.

Calgary’s stars, however, have struggled mightily.

Johnny Gaudreau, fresh of a 99-point regular season and consideration for the Hart Trophy, has one assist in four games. He managed just two shots on goal despite playing 23:41 tonight. Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm have been a little more productive but not by much. Lindholm got his first goal of the series to kick off the scoring tonight and Monahan is sitting on just points. Combined, the trio has just five points in the series.

Calgary’s big three combined for seven shots on goal tonight. Colorado’s combined for 20, with MacKinnon and Rantanen registering seven each.

Another difference maker in this series so far has been the goaltenders. Mike Smith has been very good, even spectacular at times, but Philipp Grubauer has been just a little bit better. Grubauer made an unreal left pad save while sprawled on the ice to stop Backlund early in overtime. Smith survived a J.T. Compher breakaway but was unable to conjure up any magic on the Rantanen winner.

No, the magic in this one was all Mile High Magic. The Avalanche found it in the form of their 22-year-old Finnish power forward and he made it rain memories on the adoring crowd of 18,000-plus.

This started as a series Colorado was just happy to be in following their dominant late-season run to even qualify for the playoffs. Four games in, it’s turned into an opportunity to make a little Avalanche history and put a stamp on what is clearly a new era in Avalanche hockey.

The talk of rebuilds and reboots is for the team over at Dove Valley. Title run talk? Now that’s for the dreamers at 1000 Chopper Circle (both of them). It starts with MacKinnon and runs through Rantanen.

Stop them? Calgary can’t even contain them. Maybe the Flames were the real pumpkins all along.

Takeaways from the game

• Colorado and Calgary were playing a pretty even game through 30 minutes. The Avs had a slight advantage in shot attempts but it wasn’t anything special. From that point on, however, the Avalanche buried the Flames in shot attempts. From even halfway through to a +23 advantage at 5v5 is an outrageous beatdown. It’s no wonder Smith couldn’t hold up behind that barrage.
• While the story moved on from Cale Makar, tonight was another example of just what a special player he’s going to become one day. In his second game, he was on the ice for 29 Corsi For and 12 Corsi Against at 5v5. That’s insane. That’s Erik Karlsson.
• Makar’s ability to skate pucks out has been a godsend in the wake of Sam Girard’s absence. I can’t help but sit here and wonder exactly what could become of Colorado’s defense when Girard returns to the lineup. It’s also not hard to wonder just how good the inevitable Girard-Makar pairing will be when both players are in their primes…and not the baby-faced 20-year-olds they are today.
• Matt Nieto continues his absolutely excellent postseason so far. He and Calvert combined on a great little two-man game that led to Colorado’s first goal. Nieto now has four points through four games.
• I think Alexander Kerfoot has been excellent in this series so far but he has moments where he is absolutely maddening. He had a nice scoring opportunity in overtime but tried to stickhandle through traffic to set up a cleaner shot instead of just firing away. The lesson for the Avs to learn from them winning three straight against the Flames while bombarding them with over 80 shot attempts in each game is to listen to the guy in section 352 and just “shooooooot”.
• The penalties continue to be problematic but I think Ian Cole was overall great again tonight and seeing the playoff version of Cole activated and in its full form really drives home why teams have valued him so highly the last several seasons. I couldn’t help but notice how helpless the Pens defense looked in their series against the Islanders and what a significant downgrade it was to go from Cole to Erik Gudbranson for that franchise. He can also have his maddening moments but Cole’s upside is paying the right dividends for the Avs right now.
• I’m getting closer and closer to believing the Avalanche should make a real effort to keep Colin Wilson around. A whole lot more good than bad has happened when he’s been on the ice in this series. He had another strong night tonight.
• Just four games into this series and nobody is talking about Grubauer’s struggles against Columbus last year anymore. He’s been that good. It should be obvious by now but backstopping this team to the second round of the playoffs should remove any lingering doubts about whose net this is heading into next season.
• I try to stay out of the great “Is the coach an idiot or not?” debates but Jared Bednar put Tyson Barrie and Cale Makar on the ice at the same time in overtime. For as much as we’ve been frustrated with Bednar being too conservative at times, he’s jumped into this unique Makar situation with both feet and he’s giving his new sportscar a proper test drive. I’ve honestly had very few quibbles with Bednar’s management in this series.
• On the other side, this is the first time Bill Peters has been in the postseason as a head coach and the early returns aren’t promising. He’s watched his team get run over in shot attempts in three consecutive games and that’s the one area his teams have always been able to run show. His adjustments to Colorado’s speed haven’t been there and his insistence on playing James Neal over a younger and faster alternative is a primary culprit in Colorado’s third line running over Calgary’s. Peters also got away with a very questionable coaching decision late in the third period when he called timeout after a lengthy shift by Colorado’s top line. Bednar had put out his second line but when Peters called timeout, it gave the Avs’ top guys time to rest. When the extra 30 seconds was up, MacKinnon and Co. took the faceoff in the offensive zone. The Flames survived but it sure seemed like an unnecessary risk to take when your team has not had an answer to that line in the last three games.