Mikko Rantanen's hat trick rallies Dallas Stars in Game 7 - ESPN

Many of Mikko Rantanen's greatest moments have come in a Colorado Avalanche sweater. It's just that the most defining moment of his career came at their expense.

It wasn't enough that the Dallas Stars were trailing by two goals. It was also the fact that Rantanen scored a hat trick in a string of four unanswered goals that saw his current team, the host Stars, eliminate his old team, the Avalanche, in a 4-2 win Saturday in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the American Airlines Center.

«Obviously, the feeling was incredible to win a series,» Rantanen said in his postgame media availability. «This series was not exactly what I expected. I expected a seven-game series, even before Game 1. The ups and downs in the series.… Belief was there with the group the whole time. Obviously, I was able to make a pay to get the first one and the crowd started to roll.»

The Stars, attempting to reach the conference finals for a third straight time, will advance to the semifinal round where they will await the winner of the series between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. That encounter will be decided Sunday in Game 7 in Winnipeg.

Soon, the Stars' collective focus will shift to another Central Division foe. But for now? The attention before, during and after the game was on Rantanen.

Part of what made the Avalanche-Stars series arguably the most intriguing first-round series was because it placed two 100-point teams that are in championship window against each other. But it also came with several subplots, the most notable being the team that traded quite a bit to land Rantanen — with the hope he could help it win a Stanley Cup — needed him to defeat the team that he won a championship with in 2022.

With one assist