One of Colorado's elite forwards has struggled in the second-round series against the Dallas Stars but has progressively improved.
In 80 playoff games played, elite Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has earned 100 points but only 13 in the 10 played this postseason. While he sits just one point behind the leaders — Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar — he has only produced four points in the five games against the Dallas Stars.
Rantanen scored the first goal of Game 6 just under six minutes into the second period.
Head coach Jared Bednar has worked individually with his 27-year-old top forward to try and give him a boost but has to focus generally on the team overall.
"Like all you can do is kind of go through things that you're seeing in the game that may help him, may not help him. All the things that we go through this time of year, because you have a day off in between, there may be some personal video but a lot of it's to benefit the whole group," Bednar said.
The Nousiainen, Finalnd native has posted two power-play points against the Stars but only has 27 shots on goal in a 10-spot of games. In comparison, MacKinnon has 40 and Makar has 34.
Rantanen was shifted down to the second line with Casey Mittelstadt and Zach Parise in Game 5 which seemed to spark something for him.
"So Mikko, to me, has been getting better as the series has gone on. More competitive. It's starting to show up. I mean, huge play last night on Casey's (Mittelstadt) goal. He had a great breakout, moves through the neutral zone, moving his feet, puts it in, wins the forecheck," Bednar said. "Leads to the o-zone play where he's a screen in front of the net and we end up getting the rebound. So, I'm starting to see a lot of productive things in Mikko's game, and I'm sure his offense will come with that."
In a do-or-die Game 6, Rantanen's team was excited and came out with high energy to start the game but ended the first period scoreless. Jonathan Drouin and Cale Makar assisted on Rantanen's power-play goal in the middle frame.
