It wasn’t a handshake line at the end of this remarkable seven-game series for Mikko Rantanen. It was a hug line.

The Colorado Avalanche made their bed with Mikko Rantanen. Now, they have to lie in it with their once-promising season over thanks to a Rantanen hat trick for the Dallas Stars in Saturday night's Game 7.

Rantanen is the first player in NHL history to score a hat trick in the third period of a Game 7, and the first to record multiple four-point periods in a single postseason after also achieving the feat with a goal and three assists in the second period of Game 6.