Rantanen has hat trick as Stars rally past Avalanche 4-2 in Game 7 to advance to 2nd round

DALLAS (AP) — Mikko Rantanen really took over for the Dallas Stars when they needed him the most against this former team — in the third period of Game 7.

Rantanen assisted on Wyatt Johnston’s tiebreaking power-play goal with 3:56 left before completing his third-period hat trick with an empty-netter as the Stars overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Saturday night to wrap up the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

“He just decided that we were not going to go home,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “What you witnessed there was special.”

Rantanen, who was in the playoffs with the Avalanche the past seven seasons and part of their 2022 Stanley Cup title, had a four-point period for the second game in a row. He is only the second player in NHL history to have four points in the third period of a Game 7.

"The series was probably exactly what I expected," Rantanen said. “I expected a seven-game series even before Game 1. I think belief was there with the group the whole time.”

The Stars move on to the second round to face top-seeded Winnipeg or St. Louis, who play their own Game 7 on Sunday night. The Jets would have home ice if they advance, while Dallas would start at home if facing the Blues.

Colorado had a 2-0 lead when Nathan MacKinnon made a short snap shot only 31 seconds into the third period. It was the first goal he has scored in five Game 7s, but all of those are losses.

Traded twice in a six-week period earlier this season, first from Colorado to Carolina and then to Dallas in a deadline deal that included a $96 million, eight-year contract extension, Rantanen had five goals and seven assists in the series against his original team.

“A difficult year personally, mentally, tough overall. To be traded twice, it’s not fun ever to get traded even once, but twice in a season,” said Rantanen, who said the handshake line with his former teammates after the game was emotional for him.

“They’re my brothers for sure. Most of them I know really well and played with them for 10 years,” Rantanen said. “Obviously we’re enemies this series on the ice, but I’ll always love them off the ice. It’s emotional for sure because everything happened so quick.”

Rantanen got Dallas’ first goal with 12:11 left on a shot from above the middle of the circles. He tied the game at 2 on a power play with 6:14 left went he skated behind the net and took a wraparound shot that ricocheted off the skate of Avs defenseman Samuel Girard behind goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. Rantanen then sealed the win with an empty-netter with 3 seconds remaining to complete his first career playoff hat trick.

“You saw a switch flip I think in Game 6 for him. He just decided that he was going to take over, and he’s big enough, strong enough, skilled enough to do that,” said Matt Duchene, who had two assists.

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, playing in a Game 7 for the fourth postseason in a row, had 24 saves. He is 3-1 in those games.

Blackwood stopped 15 shots, including one in the second period to keep the game scoreless with his right leg fully extended to the post while Mikael Granlund tried a wide sweeping shot from the front of the crease.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer became the first player or coach in NHL history to be part of nine Game 7 victories. He is 9-0 in Game 7s, a record accumulated with four different teams since 2012. His first came with New Jersey, and he has since had three each with San Jose and Dallas and two with Vegas. The Stars have won a seven-game series in each of his first three seasons with them.

The Avalanche have now lost seven Game 7s in a row since 2002, the last four with coach Jared Bednar. They are the only NHL, NBA or MLB team to lose seven consecutive Game 7s, according to OptaSTATS.

“It’s tough because you put your heart and soul into the whole year, the series, all of it and then you’re in a good position and then it slips away on you,” Bednar said. "It’s tough because I know how hard these guys worked and how bad they wanted it and that’s all you really think of at this point.”

Dallas has won all four Game 7s it has played against Colorado, and reached the Stanley Cup Final after each of the first three. They went to seven games in the Western Conference final in both 1999 and 2000, and the Stars won a seven-game series in the second round of the pandemic-impacted 2020 playoffs inside the Canadian bubble.

Josh Manson put the Avs ahead 1-0 on a short-handed goal midway through the second period when they got another fortunate bounce.

Two nights after Colorado avoided elimination at home when its go-ahead goal in Game 6 came on a puck bounced off a Dallas player, Manson’s shot ricocheted off the post and then the back of Oettinger’s left shoulder before trickling over the line.

Oettinger and the Stars killed off a four-minute penalty through the first period when their captain Jamie Benn got a double minor for a high stick to the face of Valeri Nichuskin in front of the Colorado net. The Avalanche had three shots on goal and missed four others.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, center, instructs Cale Makar (8), Gabriel Landeskog (92) and others during a time out in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, left, and Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer, right, greet each other on the ice after their team's Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A hat is thrown onto the ice as Dallas Stars' Mikko Rantanen (96) scores an empty-net goal against to earn a hat trick in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series againts the Colorado Avalanche Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars' Wyatt Johnston (53) and Matt Duchene (95) celebrate after Johnston scored against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon (29) sores against Dallas Stars' Jake Oettinger (29) as Brock Nelson (11), Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn (14) and Ilya Lyubushkin (46) look on in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon (29), is congrulated by the line after scoring against the Dallas Stars in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars' Oskar Back (10), Brock Nelson (11) and others loook on as a shot by Mikko Rantanen (96) gets past Colorado Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood (39) for a score in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars' Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates with Jamie Benn (14) and Matt Duchene (95) after scoring against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars' Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates after scoring with Oskar Back (10), Thomas Harley (55) and the rest of the line in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) blocks a shot by Dallas Stars' Thomas Harley (55) in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer and the bench watch play against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars center Mikael Granlund (64) works for control of the puck against Colorado Avalanche's Cale Makar (8), Valeri Nichushkin (13) and Brock Nelson (11) in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Colorado Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog (92) loses control of the puck as he pressures Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, left, in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Stars' Mikko Rantanen skates on the ice after scoring against the Colorado Avalanche in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The Dallas Stars celebrate after Mikko Rantanen, laying against boards at rear, scored against the Colorado Avalanche's Mackenzie Blackwood (39) in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) and Samuel Girard, center, look on as the Dallas Stars celebrate a goal scored by Dallas Stars' Mikko Rantanen, rear, in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific hopes regulators will be convinced this time that its $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern that it detailed for the second time Thursday will be good for the country.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected Union Pacific's initial application because regulators wanted more details about how the deal would affect the competitive balance between the five remaining major freight railroads and the impact on customers.

Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the new application makes an even stronger case for the benefits of the merger that he believes would shave a day or two off the delivery time for many shipments because they would no longer have to be handed off between two railroads in the middle of the country. The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad projects that the merger could lead to shifting 2.1 million truckloads off the highway onto trains.

Vena said CSX and BNSF are already improving their operations to ensure they can compete ,and shippers will benefit from that if the deal is approved. Plus, he pointed out that since BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway it has the financial resources to do whatever is needed because Berkshire is sitting on nearly $400 billion cash.

“The first few years after this, it’s gonna be like one of those old 15-round boxing fights. Prices are gonna be used, the service is going to be used, everything. And I think the customer’s going to be the winner in all this while we knock down, drag it out, to see who can win and grow their market share,” Vena said.

But the STB established a high bar for major railroad mergers like this one around the turn of the century after past rail mergers snarled freight and led to prolonged disruptions while two railroads worked to integrate their networks. Now Union Pacific has to demonstrate that this deal will enhance competition.

Vena said he's confident the railroads can avoid the integration problems of past mergers because they will take it slow while listening to a new board of customers about the impact. Plus this would be a combination of two successful railroads instead of many deals of the past where one thriving railroad took over another nearly bankrupt one in disrepair.

The deal includes a provision that if the STB requires more than $750 million in concessions Union Pacific can consider walking away, but it won't automatically doom the deal, the railroads disclosed Thursday as they submitted a copy of their merger agreement. Norfolk Southern would be entitled to a $2.5 billion breakup fee if the deal falls apart.

Currently, Norfolk Southern and CSX serve the eastern U.S. while Union Pacific and BNSF serve the west, and the two major Canadian rails compete where they can with their tracks crossing Canada and extending into the United States and Mexico.

A merged Union Pacific would likely control nearly 40% of the nation’s freight, but the railroad said that currently BNSF delivers that much of the nation's freight. So the railroads said the deal would shift which railroad dominates the market but wouldn't dramatically change the competitive balance.

But competitors BNSF and CPKC railroads joined a new coalition Wednesday to highlight concerns that the deal could hurt shippers and eventually consumers if it leads to higher rates for companies that have few options besides rail to get their raw materials and deliver their products. The coalition also includes trade groups for chemical and agricultural shippers and the unions that represent engineers and track maintenance workers.

“This did not begin with a customer asking for a UP-NS merger to happen,” BNSF CEO Katie Farmer said. “It’s driven by Wall Street on the promise of a big shareholder payout. It will eliminate competition, raise costs for consumers, and destabilize the supply chain that powers the American economy.”

But the biggest rail union and hundreds of shippers have backed the deal that would cut the number of major freight railroads across America down to five.

Union Pacific has promised that every union employee who has a job with either railroad at the time of the merger will have a job for life although the workforce could still shrink through attrition if the number of shipments slows down. But UP sounded an optimistic note Thursday and predicted that more than 1,200 new jobs will be created by the third year after the deal to handle the increased freight.

Previously, the railroads predicted 900 new jobs. But the new traffic data the railroads analyzed from all the major freight railroads convinced executives that more job growth is likely.

If the STB accepts this new application, regulators will likely spend more than a year analyzing every aspect of the deal.

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FILE - Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena talks in front of a locomotive simulator used to train engineers at the company's headquarters in Omaha, Neb., Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Josh Funk, File)

FILE - A Norfolk Southern freight train rolls past the U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, in Clairton, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - A Union Pacific worker walks between two locomotives that are being serviced in a railyard in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Josh Funk, File)