Nathan MacKinnon and Josh Manson scored for the Avalanche, who were the No. 3 seed from the Central. Mackenzie Blackwood made 15 saves.
“It’s pretty shocking,” MacKinnon said. “Felt like we were in total control and then Mikko, credit to him, he made some amazing plays. He was a difference-maker and he took over. I don’t know; I’m in shock to be honest with you. Felt like we were in complete control of the game the whole time and just lost it. They were missing their best [defenseman in Miro Heiskanen] and maybe their best forward (Jason Robertson), so we still couldn’t beat them. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Rantanen cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1 at 7:49 of the third on a shot from the high slot into the top corner of the net blocker side.
“I don’t really have any words right now to describe what happened,” Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said. “We felt like our play was good enough 5-on-5 and we controlled the pace of the game. Even when it went 2-1, I felt like we weathered it well. Just a tough circumstance of events.”
Rantanen’s second goal of the game tied it 2-2 at 13:46 on a wraparound that banked in off Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard’s skate.
Johnston then gave Dallas a 3-2 lead on the power play 2:18 later with a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Duchene, and Rantanen completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal with three seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.
“There probably wasn’t a whole lot of belief that we were going to be able to get it done with 15 minutes left in the third, so just awesome that we were able to battle back, especially in front of the home crowd,” Johnston said. “It was amazing out on the ice. My ears are still ringing from how loud they were. Hopefully, a lot of pretty special games and special wins coming up in the next little while.”
Manson scored a short-handed goal to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 9:50 of the second period. After Stars defenseman Thomas Harley lost a puck battle along the boards, Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor fed Manson as the trailing forward and his shot bounced in off Oettinger after the goalie made the initial stop.
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