TAMPERE, Finland — Mikko Rantanen had a hat trick for the Colorado Avalanche when they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in his home country, 6-3 in the 2022 NHL Global Series at Nokia Arena on Friday.
Rantanen, who also had an assist, was born in Nousiainen, a little more than 100 miles south of Tampere.
He scored a power-play goal at 8:54 of the third to put the Avalanche ahead 4-3 after Columbus erased a three-goal deficit, and added an empty-net goal with 1:04 remaining to make it 6-3.
Nathan MacKinnon had four assists for the Avalanche (5-4-1), and Alexandar Georgiev made 36 saves.
Patrik Laine, who was born here and played for the club team Tappara, had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets (3-8-0), who have lost four straight, getting outscored 23-7.
Jakub Voracek and Sean Kuraly scored for Columbus and Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves.
The teams will play here again on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, ALT, BSOH, SN NOW).
Logan O’Connor gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 1:36 of the first period before J.T. Compher scored a power-play goal at 12:27 for a 2-0 lead.
Rantanen scored his first of the game to make it 3-0 at 35 seconds of the second.
A minute later, Voracek made it 3-1 on the power play, deflecting a shot from Laine past Georgiev at 1:35. Columbus had not scored a power-play goal in its first 10 games this season.
Laine made it 3-2 at 7:16 of the second with wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
Laine has played three NHL regular-season games in Finland and has five goals, the most scored outside of North America by any NHL player. He scored a hat trick in his debut at the 2018 NHL Global Series, with the Winnipeg Jets, against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki.
His six points during games outside of North America are the third-most by any NHL player. Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has seven points (three goals, four assists) in three games and former defenseman Dustin Byfuglien had seven points (two goals, five assists) in four games. Laine is also the only player in NHL history to score a goal in each of his first three games in his home country.
Kuraly made it 3-3 at 2:32 of the third period when he scored from the slot.
Cale Makar increased the lead to 5-3 with his first of the season at 10:49 of the third. Rantanen had an assist.
The game was played before a sold-out crowd of 12,882. The fans chanted Rantanen’s name throughout the final minute of the game.