Morning Flurries: Rantanen receives second star of the month honors

Can we say 14 million?

After a month of ups and downs for the Colorado Avalanche, one of their stars was recognized by the NHL. Mikko Rantanen was named second star of the month for November for his 19-point 11-goal performance. The Finnish Right Wing was also named the second star of the week on November 25.

Per the NHL’s press release:

Rantanen shared the League lead with 11 total goals and four game-winning goals across 14 appearances (11-8—19) to guide the Avalanche (13-12-0, 26 points) to an 8-6-0 month. He scored in half of his 14 contests, highlighted by his second hat trick of the season Nov. 13 vs. LAK (3-1—4) as well as a pair of two-goal performances: Nov. 5 vs. SEA (2-0—2) and Nov. 9 vs. CAR (2-1—3). Rantanen, who produced six total multi-point games, additionally finished among the November leaders in even-strength goals (t-1st; 8), even-strength points (t-4th; 14), points (t-8th; 19) and power-play goals (t-9th; 3). The 28-year-old Rantanen, who is slated to represent Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, ranks sixth in the NHL with 15-19—34 through 25 total outings this season. He also places among the top 2024-25 performers in hat tricks (1st; 2), game-winning goals (t-3rd; 4), goals (t-4th; 15), even-strength goals (t‑8th; 10), power-play goals (t-8th; 5), even-strength points (t-9th; 22) and power-play points (t-9th; 12).

• Following the loss to Edmonton, Sportsnet featured an interview with Devon Toews.

• Rumor has it the Avalanche are getting a dog. Does this mean Bernie is the father?

• The NHL is set to announce the Four Nations rosters on December 4. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar were already named to their respective teams over the summer. Will any other Avalanche players find themselves busy this coming February. Devon Toews is still likely for Team Canada but is not a total lock. Artturi Lehkonen has also received some mention for Finland. We’ll find out for sure in a couple of days.