The Colorado Avalanche's 2024-25 season came to an end on Saturday night, as they suffered a crushing 4-2 loss in Game 7 of their first-round series against the Dallas Stars. The heavyweight battle between two of the top teams in the league lived up to the hype, and after the game, a dejected Nathan MacKinnon offered a sobering admission that quickly caught the attention of fans.

After yet another dominant season for the Avs that saw him score 32 goals and rack up a league-leading 84 assists, MacKinnon continued his strong play against the Stars, scoring seven goals and four assists in the series. It wasn't enough, though, as Colorado threw away a 2-0 third period lead, allowing Dallas to rattle off four unanswered goals. With Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen both not playing at all in this series, MacKinnon kept it real when discussing the Avalanche's playoff elimination.

“They were missing their best ‘D’ and maybe their best forward, (and) we still couldn’t beat them,” MacKinnon said. “Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche head back to the drawing board after crushing loss

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While the Avalanche had an advantage on paper with Robertson and Heiskanen out, they weren't able to put them away, resulting in their season coming to an end far earlier than they would have liked. Making matters even worse was the fact that their old friend, Mikko Rantanen, was the one who put them to bed, scoring a hat trick in the third period to send the Stars to the second round.

This is now the second straight year in which Dallas has sent Colorado home in the playoffs, and since winning the Stanley Cup Final in 2022, the Avs have won just one playoff series. The front office will be working hard on figuring out a way to improve their roster this offseason, while MacKinnon and the rest of his teammates will enjoy some time off before getting back to work in preparation for the upcoming campaign.