Deen’s Daily: Avalanche Spoil Rantanen’s Emotional Return; Mrazek the Savior; Vegas, Florida Hit Roadblocks

The Avalanche beat Dallas in a highly anticipated matchup on Sunday. How was Mikko Rantanen received by the Ball Arena crowd? Also, the last two Stanley Cup champions have hit a roadblock.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — March 17.

Colorado Hockey Now

The game lived up to the hype. The Avalanche and Stars played great matinee hockey on Sunday before Cale Makar was the hero in OT for the Avs.

At the first commercial break, Rantanen got a tribute video in his first game back at Ball Arena since Colorado suddenly traded him seven weeks ago.

Rantanen was emotional, and the crowd was, too.

Since it was an early start, I wrote my 10 Observations piece and published it hours after the game ended. Per usual, these are behind the CHN+ paywall for home games because of the locker room access and behind-the-scenes commentary often written about.

With the playoffs just a month away, this is the perfect time to become a subscriber for paywall content. Either $4.49/month will get you in, or if you’re looking for a better deal, use promo code Deen10 to get 25% off an annual subscription. You can sign up in the article above.

Around The NHL

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: That CHN+ subscription also gets you access to this story. And it’s a fun one to read. Could you picture Brad Marchand in a Pens sweater playing alongside Sidney Crosby?

Detroit Hockey Now: The Petr Mrazek era is alive and well in Detroit. And his head coach is all about it. Mrazek helped the Wings shutout the Vegas Golden Knights.

Vegas Hockey Now: This bad loss came on the eve of an embarrassing blown lead to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Bruce Cassidy can’t be happy to see his team reeling like this.

Florida Hockey Now: Perhaps missing Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad, and your big deadline acquisition all at the same time isn’t necessarily the best thing for your team. Florida lost for the second straight game.

Chicago Hockey Now: The Blackhawks went out on the road for four games and came back without a single win. This included a stop at Ball Arena. Three takeaways from the road trip.