Mikko Rantanen assisted on Wyatt Johnston’s tiebreaking power-play goa l with 3:56 left before completing a third-period hat trick with an empty-netter as the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Game 7 on Saturday night to wrap up the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Rantanen, who was in the playoffs with the Avalanche the past seven seasons and part of their 2022 Stanley Cup title, had his second four-point period in the series. He is only the second player in NHL history to have four points in the third period of a Game 7.

The Stars move on to the second round to face top-seeded Winnipeg or St. Louis, who play their own Game 7 tonight.

Traded twice in a six-week period earlier this season, first from Colorado to Carolina and then to Dallas in a deadline deal that included a $96 million, eight-year contract extension, Rantanen had five goals and seven assists in the series against his original team.

Rantanen got Dallas’ first goal with 12:11 left on a shot from above the middle of circles. He tied the game at 2 with 6:14 left went he skated behind the net and took a wraparound shot that ricocheted off the skate of Avs defenseman Samuel Girard behind goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. Rantanen then sealed the win with an empty-netter with 3 seconds remaining to complete his first career playoff hat trick.

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, playing in a Game 7 for the fourth postseason in a row, had 24 saves. He is 3-1 in those games.

Josh Manson put the Avs ahead 1-0 on a short-handed goal midway through the second period and Nathan MacKinnon made it 2-0just 31 seconds into the third period.

The Avalanche have now lost seven Game 7s in a row since 2002, the last four with coach Jared Bednar.

Another Game 7 on tap

Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets return home for a chance to flip the script on their recent playoff disappointments and the demons that have followed them into this spring.

The best-in-the-NHL-regular-season Jets host the Western Conference eighth-seeded St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of their back-and-forth series tonight.

Winnipeg has been knocked out in the first round the previous two years and is in danger of happening again, with Hellebuyck again squarely in the spotlight after getting chased in all three of his team’s defeats.

“A one-game showdown: That’s what it is, not just Connor,” coach Scott Arniel said after losing Game 6 in St. Louis 5-2 on Friday. “It’s what we do as a group. ... And you know what, I have a lot of confidence in our group, not just Helly. I have a lot of confidence in our group. You win one hockey game, you move onto the next round.”

Hellebuyck, likely the Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goaltender for a second consecutive season and third time in his career and a finalist for the Hart as MVP, has a 4.42 GAA and an .815 save percentage. He had some of the best numbers in the NHL in those categories during the regular season, 2.00 and .925.

The home/road difference has been stark. Hellebuyck and the Jets are 3-0 in the provincial capital of Manitoba, and he has allowed 2.33 goals a game with an .879 save percentage. South of the U.S.-Canada border in St. Louis, he’s allowing 7.24 a game with a .758 save percentage.

The good news for the Jets is they earned home ice in Game 7.

Hurricanes ink goalie

The Carolina Hurricanes signed goaltender Frederik Andersen to a one-year, $2.75 million contract for next season.

Anderson has become coach Rod Brind’Amour’s most trusted option in net and is expected start Game 1 against Washington in next week’s second-round series.