You feed a Moose in the wild, they get ornery. Then they want more. The last two times Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen scored twice in a playoff game, he scored twice again the very next tilt.
“I think you’ve got to elevate your game after every round. And like I said before, it only gets harder for the team, so it gets harder for individuals too,” Rantanen reflected in advance of the Avs’ second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Dallas Stars, which starts Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
“I think we’re going to face a tougher team next round. And I think every individual, including me, needs to take another step because that’s what we need to do. Because we want to get better and better to win the Cup. But yeah, individually, you’ve got to be well-prepared as well.”
The Moose rolls into the Multiplex off a two-goal Game 5 in Winnipeg, his only two scores of the first round and his first multi-goal postseason game since Game 4 of that ill-fated Seattle series in April 2023.
Here’s the fun part: Rantanen also scored twice in Game 3. His back-to-back two-goal efforts against Calgary in 2019, in Games 4 and 5, helped eliminate the Flames in a first-round upset. When the Moose collects, it’s with interest.
“Experience obviously helps,” Rantanen said. “And I think we were able to turn (it) up another notch when the playoffs started. And I think we got better after every game (of the Jets series).”
The Avs’ top line — the Moose at right wing, Nathan MacKinnon at center and Valeri Nichushkin at left wing — dominated Winnipeg in spurts, but those chunks proved sporadic. Colorado’s third line combo of Kiviranta-Colton-Wood (5.14 goals) and second line of Parise-Mittlestadt-Lehkonen (5.03 goals), per Moneypuck.com, actually averaged more goals per 60 minutes against the Jets than the Avs’ top line (4.73).
“Obviously, when we play together, there’s three good players (in that top line),” Rantanen said. “When everybody’s going, we try to help each other and try to move the puck. I’m not sure if (defensemen) forget (about me) but, yeah, it’s good if (Nichushkin) is going well.”
These aren’t problems, by the way. They’re warnings. For Dallas. The Avs went at the best defense and best goaltender in the West like a troop of spider monkeys. And they did it with Rantanen, who’s averaged 1.3 points per career postseason game, sometimes struggling to shift out of third gear.
In fact, the Big Finn went into Game 5 in one of those George Clinton funks, having gone four tilts with six points but no goals. It was Rantanen’s longest stretch without finding the back of the net in the postseason since the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals (six games, zero goals, 10 assists). And the first time he’d gone four games without a goal during a first-round series since Nashville two years ago (four games, zero goals, five assists).
The nadir came in the second period of the Avs’ series clincher, when the Moose camped to goalie Connor Hellebuyck’s left, got a dime from Cale Makar near the blue line, a gift that lights the lamp 98 times out of 100. Only No. 96 appeared to get a case of the yips, awkwardly dribbling the puck off his stick.
Which, by the way, is the last thing that stick saw before it went to that great Bauer factory in the sky. The 6-foot-4 winger skated away from the scene and promptly snapped the thing in half like it was a piece of kindling.
“I don’t keep score (of broken sticks),” Rantanen said. “Actually, this year, I haven’t done it (much) — that was maybe third time? Maybe a little bit more (in the past).”
Mikko Rantanen (96) of the Colorado Avalanche handles as Jake Oettinger (29) of the Dallas Stars tends the net during the third period at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
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The stick did the trick. New wood. New Mikko. Two goals in the third. Might be time for a new tradition.
“Obviously, everybody has superstitions, I (don’t) think that (was) a part of it,” Rantanen laughed.
“Game 5 was obviously tight-checking and not a lot of room. And then you get a chance and you (mess up), the goalie covers it, that causes you to get frustrated, and you broke a stick, so nothing more than that. I feel like it was just the moment, you know. Getting a little frustrated.”
And the last thing you want to do, as locals know darn well, is get on the wrong side of a Moose on the loose.
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