DALLAS — For those of you keeping score at home, Mikko Rantanen has exactly as many points as Gabe Landeskog in the NHL playoffs showdown between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.

At 7 minutes past the stroke of midnight on an edgy evening deep in the heart of Texas, the Stars clawed back to even this best-of-seven series at a victory apiece by the count of 4-3, the winner a goal by Colin Blackwell nearly 18 tense minutes into overtime.

Now, more than ever, Colorado could use an emotional boost from Landeskog, who watched as his teammates coughed up a lead in the third period.

But after a 1,030 day wait, what’s another 48 hours?

Landeskog laced up his skates and took the ice on the night of an Avalanche game for the first time since hoisting the Stanley Cup on June 26, 2022.

After three long years of rehabilitating a freak knee injury that required multiple surgeries, including a cartilage transplant, Captain Gabe came barreling out of the tunnel and followed goalie Mackenzie Blackwood on the ice for warm-ups of Game 2 of this best-of-seven playoff series.

And it got a little misty in American Airlines Center.

“Mental toughness at its finest,” Avalanche teammate Erik Johnson said. “He had multiple times when I’m sure he wanted to pull the plug and didn’t think (the injury) was getting better, but stuck with it.”

On the ice, Landeskog looked good, with skates churning and that big “C” shining on his sweater.

When the lights in the arena went down for the laser-show hoopla prior to the opening face-off, coach Jared Bednar stuck with a decision he had made more than 24 hours earlier, going with Miles Wood in the lineup instead of Landeskog.

Well, hindsight might be 20/20. But it can also haunt. This was a decision Bednar must wear.

Wood finished minus-3 in the game, and volunteered that the game-winning goal by Blackwell was his fault.

 Landeskog was a healthy scratch. Through two games, Rantanen has been a no-show.

Maybe Rantanen misses Nathan MacKinnon more than any of us realized.

While there’s no denying Moose’s elite skill level, it would also be foolish to deny how playing alongside MacKinnon can make a B+ player look like an all-star and give an all-star delusions of Hall of Fame grandeur.

“Look, (Rantanen) played in one place for a decade,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “And he played with one guy for almost a decade, and no one else in the league has that guy (MacKinnon).”

In Dallas, where the peeps are still mightily agitated about the senseless departure of Mavericks star Luka Doncic to La La Land, they need a new hero.

And so far, despite his new eight-year, $96 million contract, Rantanen has failed to fit the bill or fill the hole in the Big D’s heart.

“He’s got a lot on his plate. I don’t think anyone should be surprised that this hasn’t come easily and all at once,” DeBoer said.

“Until (Rantanen) gets to the point where he’s making a nightly impact, the other guys have to do some heavy lifting.”

In a matter of weeks, Rantanen watched a decade-long relationship with the Avs fall apart, then lived like a nomad out of a suitcase in Carolina before being asked to justify that fat contract by carrying Dallas to the Cup.

On the morning of Game 2, I asked how much the upheaval messed with his peace of mind.

“It’s not easy in anybody’s life if there’s uncertainty, whether you’re a hockey player or football player or lawnmower or a writer,” Rantanen replied. “If there’s uncertainty, it’s always hard mentally.”

Among all the players involved in the two trades that sent Rantanen from Colorado to Carolina to Texas between late January and early March, every player has scored a point already in the opening round of the playoffs, with one exception.

Rantanen has yet to get on the board.

When this best-of-seven series moves Wednesday to Denver for Game 3, engineers at Ball Arena better make certain the roof is bolted down tight for the ovation Landeskog will hear if he plays.

“He’s probably had so many days where he’s thinking to himself, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’” Johnson said. “Now he’s on the cusp of potentially making a return for us.”

Whatever contribution the Avs can get from Landeskog will be a gift from the hockey gods.

Down here in the ‘Big D,’ sports fans are so irate at Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison for trading Doncic that anywhere a crowd gathers, this chant can spontaneously erupt: “Fire Nico!”

If the Stars’ $96 million man fails to prove his worth in this NHL playoff series, that chant could quickly change to “Fire Mikko!”