Mikko Rantanen struggled a bit in February with the rest of the team but has gotten back on track as of late.
Mikko Rantanen struggled a bit in February with the rest of the team but has gotten back on track as of late.
It's no secret Mikko Rantanen was in a bit of a slump at the end of February but he turned that around against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The 27-year-old Finland native scored his first goal in six games against the Leafs on Feb. 24 and also had an assist. He only had six points in the month up to that game, and was held scoreless in three games in February.
Once he broke his goal-scoring drought, he's improved every game and it has shown. He had another two-point night in the 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
"He was obviously really good making lots of plays and being physical and hard to play against," Bowen Byram said about his teammate following the win against the Stars. "We see it in practice every day when he uses his size and strength, he's hard to contain. So, you know, we're really happy that he's on our side."
The funk Rantanen was in was not for lack of effort, per se. The 6-foot-4, 215 pound forward accumulated 11 shots on goal in the games he was kept off the scoresheet.
"I think you look at that first goal, obviously makes a skill move at the end to make that goal but before he stops at the net, gets his stick on it — keeps hanging out in that area," Jonathan Drouin said about Rantanen's play against the Stars. " He makes that skill backhand play but I thought he was a horse yesterday. Played hard — physical, winning in battles. Obviously, when your top players play like that every other line will just step in and play that way."
As one of the vocal leaders on the team, Rantanen's play impacts the team on and off the ice.
"I thought our top line was really good, but Mikko obviously was going through a little bit of a rut and I thought he was competing all over the ice," head coach Jared Bednar said. "Checking the puck back, hanging on the pucks with guys trying to check him, still making plays, physical and skating the whole night. So I mean, that's what we want to see, you know he's working his way out of it. And sometimes it takes an exceptional effort in order to do that and he gets rewarded with a goal and assist last night, a big part of our win."
Rantanen earned two points in the last two games, getting the assist on Nathan MacKinnon's goal (the only Avs goal) in the 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators. He has 31 goals this season and became the first player in Avalanche history to score 30-plus goals in four consecutive seasons.
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