Colorado Avalanche Star Mikko Rantanen Finding his Playoff Groove

Colorado Avalanche star winger Mikko Rantanen is helping the team win in the playoffs, which is a contrast to last year’s performance.

A year ago, Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen struggled in his first-ever NHL playoff appearance. He was so not-dominant that Avs insiders like Adrian Dater and Mike Chambers speculated he might be playing with an injury.

His subsequent appearance at — and dominance of — IIHF Worlds put paid to that. I’m not going to lie — I was annoyed. However, I just chalked it up to his version of a sophomore slump, which Rantanen most certainly did not suffer in the regular season last year.

Rantanen recorded four assists in six games in last year’s playoffs. Sure, that’s not horrible. However, that’s a sharp decline from his 29 goals and 55 assists in the regular season last year.

Well, Rantanen scored 31 goals and 56 assists this year. And he’s carrying that magic into the playoffs this time. He’s already scored three goals and earned three assists in four games. One of the goals was the overtime winner from last night.

Let’s enjoy that goal again for a moment:

I mean, lord alive that’s a classic Rants goal, scored from the knee in the flashiest, sexiest way imaginable. Heat that up and inject it straight into my veins, it was that good. (Sorry, I’m still a little light-headed from screaming all the oxygen out of my lungs last night when he scored that goal.)

Not lost in the beauty of the goal itself is the effort of our captain to drive the puck up the ice and get it to Big Ol’ Carl Soderberg. Both men were snake-bitten all night, so Soda wisely got the puck to a man who hasn’t been, Mikko Rantanen, who just happened to be open.

In addition to that game-winning goal, he has a power play goal and two power play assists. That power play goal happened to be the game-tyer that led to the eventual overtime win.

Let’s enjoy that one:

Both of those goals showcase clutch play. In the game-tying goal, the Avalanche were down by one late in the third period. They had a power play, true, but Rantanen’s tip-in was a product of positioning himself perfectly and angling his stick just-so.

The game-winning goal occurred in the powder keg of sudden-death, playoff overtime.

It turns out I wasn’t the only one who was annoyed. Here’s an observation from Avs writer Ryan Boulding:

I wouldn’t characterize my annoyance as hate of any kind, just disappointment. And I didn’t attach his future contract to his postseason performance. However, I did wonder if he’d be a force in the playoffs this year.

Yes, he is. He’s one of the Colorado Avalanche’s best players, and he showed up when needed. He just maybe needed to get used to NHL playoff hockey. After all, he didn’t grow up in the physical North American style of hockey, and no hockey is more intense than that in the playoffs.

Well, whatever the explanation, Mikko Rantanen has certainly figured the NHL playoff game this year. The Colorado Avalanche are succeeding in the postseason partly because of his excellent play.