The Avs, not counting the goaltenders, were actually worse from early December through late January. Nichushkin missed half of this time. Casey Mittelstadt and Ross Colton, the two guys who stepped up to support Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Rantanen at the start of the year, went into prolonged funks.

Mikko Rantanen returned to Ball Arena with no one completely sure why he left. Regardless of Texas’ lack of state income tax, Sunday showed that he played right into the Avs’ hands. Colorado can win a Stanley Cup without him.

The Colorado Avalanche traded Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes back in January. It was a shocking deal that left fans across the hockey world completely stunned. Rantanen’s time with the Hurricanes was short-lived,

Cale Makar scored 34 seconds into overtime and Colorado recovered after squandering a late two-goal lead to win 4-3 over the Dallas Stars in the return of former Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen.

Cale Makar and the Avalanche took down former teammate Mikko Rantanen and the Stars on Monday. He spoke about the forward's return on Sunday.

Cale Makar scored 34 seconds into overtime and Colorado recovered after squandering a late two-goal lead to beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Sunday in the return of former Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen.