Greatest revenge games in sports, from Mikko Rantanen’s Game 7 to Brett Favre to Luka Dončić

By Sean McIndoe, Mike Jones, Tyler Kepner and Christian Clark

We love a good revenge game, don’t we folks?

It’s an irresistible sports trope. A player leaves a team under murky circumstances — maybe against their will or maybe there’s a footprint on their back as they head out the door — then, inevitably, they get to face their former team, and they teach them a lesson. And the lesson is: You done messed up.

It doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s glorious. And if it comes with frequent shots of an owner or general manager looking miserable, even better.

We saw a classic example over the weekend in the NHL, with the Dallas Stars’ Mikko Rantanen breaking the hearts of his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, in Game 7 of their playoff series. It wasn’t his first game against the Avs — he’d faced them once in the regular season back in March — but it was easily the most important meeting and the biggest opportunity for revenge. And let’s just say he delivered.

Inspired by Rantanen’s performance, we assembled writers from a handful of sports, asking them to share the greatest revenge game they can remember.

The list is subjective and not meant to be comprehensive. Have your own favorite? Feel free to share the memories in the comments section.

Mikko Rantanen’s Game 7 versus the Avalanche

Call it taking the easy answer, or accuse me of recency bias, but I don’t see how the NHL’s answer for “greatest revenge game in the sport” can be anything but Rantanen absolutely decimating the Avalanche late in Saturday’s Game 7.

Let’s look at the scenario that just played out. Rantanen doesn’t want to leave Colorado and is reportedly willing to take less than market value to re-sign. He thinks he is close on a new contract. Then the team shocks him with a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he is unproductive and miserable, at which point he is flipped again to the Stars. Dallas then faces his former team in the best matchup of the first round, but with 15 minutes left in regulation, it looks like the story is going to end with a whimper. Colorado is up 2-0, about to steal Game 7 in Dallas and move on.

That’s when Rantanen puts together quite possibly the greatest period in NHL postseason history, scoring three times and adding an assist as Dallas completes the comeback and wins 4-2. Rantanen ends up leading the series in scoring. He has two four-point periods, something only Mario Lemieux had ever done twice in the playoffs in a career, except Rantanen did it twice in 48 hours. Oh, and he seems to have plunged his former team into a full-fledged existential crisis of doubt and loathing.

I mean, short of flying to Colorado and burning the arena to the ground, then going door to door to punch all their fans in the groin, I’m not sure what else he could have done to drive the point home. I’m going out on a limb, but I feel like the Avalanche might want a do-over here. — Sean McIndoe

Brett Favre’s first game against the Packers

When it comes to revenge games, the NFL has certainly seen its fair share. But none proved more poetic than quarterback Brett Favre’s first game against the Green Bay Packers after 16 legendary seasons as the face of the team.

After one season with the New York Jets, Favre signed with the Packers’ NFC North rivals, the Minnesota Vikings, in 2009. In Week 4 of the regular season, Favre and the Vikings welcomed the Packers and former Favre understudy Aaron Rodgers to Minneapolis, and No. 4 showed he still had something left in the tank, completing 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-23 victory. For good measure, Favre also bested the Packers in his return to Green Bay in Week 8, throwing four touchdown passes and for 244 yards in a 38-26 win.

Favre wasn’t the only quarterback to exact revenge against his former team. In 1994, Joe Montana made the 49ers pay for turning to Steve Young as their starter. The spurned Montana signed with the Kansas City Chiefs and in his only game against San Francisco passed for 203 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-17 victory.

And who could forget Tom Brady’s return to New England in 2021 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? A year earlier, Patriots coach Bill Belichick had concluded Brady’s Super Bowl-winning days were behind him and let him leave in free agency. Brady signed with the Bucs and promptly led Tampa Bay that season to a Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Then, in Week 4 of the 2021 regular season, Brady made his return to Foxboro and directed the Bucs to a 19-17 victory to complete the revenge circle. — Mike Jones

Roger Clemens sticking it to the Red Sox

How dominant was Roger Clemens for the Boston Red Sox? When the team let him go after the 1996 season, Clemens was tied for the franchise’s career wins record — with Cy Young himself.

The Toronto Blue Jays landed the Rocket with the richest pitching contract in baseball history — more than $8 million per season — and Dan Duquette, then the Red Sox GM, wished him well in the “twilight of his career.” The comment was cutting but reasonable. In his last four seasons with Boston, Clemens made no All-Star teams, collected no votes for the Cy Young Award and went 40-39.

With Toronto, though, Clemens embarked on a personal crusade to make the Red Sox regret their indifference. He returned to Fenway Park on July 12, 1997, with a revenge statement for the ages: eight innings, one run, no walks — and 16 strikeouts, then a record for a Blue Jays pitcher, in a 3-1 Blue Jays victory.

“He came to make a point,” Boston slugger Mo Vaughn said later, “and he did.”

Fans who had jeered Clemens before the game rose in appreciation after he fanned Vaughn to end the eighth. As he strutted off the mound toward the visitors dugout, Clemens glared at the Red Sox executive suite. His twilight would burn bright, with more Cy Young Awards after leaving Boston (four) than he had won with the Red Sox (three).

Clemens’ late-career surge would later be tainted by ties to steroids. But with the Yankees in 2003, as he reflected on his career while approaching his 300th victory, Clemens still relished the moment he stuck it to Duquette and the Red Sox: “I didn’t need motivation. One guy made a decision. He made a wrong decision. He critiqued the wrong guy.” — Tyler Kepner

Luka Dončić’s return to Dallas

In Luka Dončić’s return to Dallas, tears flowed, and so did the stepback 3s.

On April 9, the Slovenian superstar got to play at American Airlines Center for the first time since the Dallas Mavericks surprisingly traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers more than two months earlier.

The Mavericks welcomed Dončić back with a tribute video that stirred up so much emotion, Dončić’s eyes welled with tears as he sat on the Lakers’ bench and watched it. When the ball finally tipped, Dončić showed a side of himself that Mavericks fans knew well: the ruthless competitor. He scored 14 points in the first quarter, and he had 31 points by halftime.

Every time Dončić touched the ball, Mavericks fans cheered him. And almost every time a Mavericks player shot free throws, those same fans chanted “Fire Nico!” Their ire was, of course, directed at Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who initiated the Dončić trade talks with the Lakers and was watching his former star player’s return from a tunnel near midcourt.

Dončić finished with 45 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Anthony Davis, the centerpiece of the package Dallas got back for Dončić, underwhelmed with 13 points. The Lakers beat the Mavericks 112-97, and Dončić declared afterward that he was ready to turn the page on the trade that had upended his life.

“I love the fans,” Dončić said. “I love this city. But it’s time to move on.” — Christian Clark

(Photo: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)