You couldn’t have drawn up a more poetic performance for Mikko Rantanen.
The Avalanche’s top Finnish superstar recorded the fourth hat trick of his career — and perhaps the most memorable of them all — at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland.
The native of Nousiainen, Finland, just a couple hours up the road, helped the Avalanche to a 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first leg of the NHL’s Global Series.
Opposing Finnish star Patrik Laine also had a goal and an assist for Columbus.
Listen to “Mikko Rantanen, Mikko Ran-tan-en” on Spreaker.
Colorado coughed up a 3-0 lead before Rantanen’s second goal, a power-play tally in the third period, stood as the game-winner. Rantanen also assisted on Makar’s first of the season to make it 5-3 before adding the empty netter.
Nathan MacKinnon (four assists), Devon Toews (two assists) and Makar (goal, assist) also had multi-point nights. Alexandar Georgiev made 36 saves to improve to 5-1-1 on the season. After a first period where Colorado outshot the Blue Jackets 16-7, the Avs’ top netminder was tasked with facing 32 shots in the final 40 minutes en route to the victory.
More importantly for the Avs, their depth forwards pitched in offensively. J.T. Compher, who entered the game with just a single assist in nine games, scored. Logan O’Connor opened the scoring with his second of the season and Alex Newhook and Evan Rodrigues both recorded their first assists.
It was a penalty-filled affair at both ends of the ice. The Avs had two double minors but managed to get through both of them unscathed. Teams exchanged penalties in the second period, where Colorado took four minors and Columbus had two.
The Avalanche finished 2-for-5 on their league-best power play. They also surrendered just one goal on seven power-play opportunities for the opposition.
Both teams will once again faceoff in the back end of the two-game series on Saturday.