Mikko Rantanen has finally arrived for the Dallas Stars — and not a moment too soon. The 28-year-old broke through on Monday night, scoring a goal and adding two assists as the Stars pushed the Colorado Avalanche to the brink of elimination with a convincing 6-2 victory at the American Airlines Center.

Wyatt Johnston scored the fastest playoff goal in franchise history, beating Mackenzie Blackwood just nine seconds into the contest. Rantanen would make the score 3-0 early in the second period, and that's all the offense Dallas would need on this night.

“We were just all excited to score a goal, you know, and help the team that way,” Rantanen said afterwards of his line getting on the score sheet, per NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika.

Rantanen took a slick pass from countryman Roope Hintz on a 2-on-1 before beating Blackwood with a wrist shot to the bottom corner.

“I saw Roope was leaving, and obviously he’s one of the best skaters in the league, and I threw it to him in the area and then just tried to beat my guy up the ice,” Rantanen added. “Great pass by Roope. I think it went between the legs, and easy, easy job for me.”

It was a massive win for the Stars, who were shut out by the Avalanche in Game 4 but were able to score early and often against Blackwood on home ice.

Dallas will now have an opportunity to knock out Colorado for the third time in six years in Game 6 at Ball Arena on Thursday night.

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Mikko Rantanen earns high praise after vintage performance

“Huge,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said of Rantanen's performance, per Cotsonika. “Huge relief for him. You could tell by our group’s reaction how happy our guys were for him. I mean, they feel that. They see him carrying that around. Having said that, I can’t tell you how professional he’s been in his approach every day in putting the team first. You wouldn’t know he hasn’t scored.

“He cares about us winning. I think more importantly he wants to know defensively what we can do, what he can do to help us win. But this guy has scored his whole life. He gets paid to score, and I think when guys like that finally get one, hopefully, look out.”

It looks like Rantanen is finally heating up, which is just what the Central Division behemoths need to make another deep run in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“He’s an awesome player,” Johnston said, per Cotsonika. “He can see the ice so well. He can make plays. He can score. So that’s awesome to see him get one. I thought he was awesome tonight, and yeah, eventually, if you do enough good things, it’ll start to go in for you.”

Last season, the Stars beat the Avalanche in Denver in Game 6 to book their ticket to the Western Conference Final. They'll again have the chance to advance at Ball Arena — this time to Round 2 — when puck drops on Thursday night.