In the final games of the NHL, there is a Finnish show going on, the likes of which has never been seen before, writes Urheilu’s NHL editor Tommi Seppälä.
Tommi Seppälä
Florida, United States.
Now you can glow.
The Finns’ display in the final games of the NHL is incomprehensible. The Finns have never before dominated the world’s toughest final match on the biggest stage with such a width.
In the opening match Alexander Barkov was the best field player on the field and early on Tuesday morning the basic defender took on the role of the decider Niko Mikkola with his second goal of the spring, which he initially pitched two hits Anton Lundell.
After two games have been played, all four Finns in Florida have recorded power in their account. Eetu Luostarinen and Mikkola have filled the net, Barkov and Lundell have started important goals.
Of course, there is nothing new here. Barkov was at the center of everything when Florida swept Tampa in the opening round. Lundell was settling both the Boston and New York series.
And this is ultimately just the surface.
Beneath the surface, in the game within the game, the Finns are having a crazy clinic. As incredible as it is, for example, Barkov’s final breakthrough in the eyes of the general public seems to be happening only now after all these years. Eyes on the genius of the world’s most complete center will be opened once and for all, when Barkov defeats the world’s best forward players in the rink, Connor McDavid and Leon Drasaitli.
Under Barkov’s watchful eye, the Oilers’ star duo has scored 0+1 in two games.
The “Finnish chain” dominates
Then we can talk about the triple chain of Luostarinen and Lundell. Its importance for the outcome of the final match series is huge. In the playoffs, gambling is always at the center of everything – that is, how each chain fares against the corresponding chain of the opponent. Florida’s triple chain is like from another planet compared to Edmonton’s. The difference is crushing.
On Tuesday, Lundell was about to score two goals, the Oilers’ third lost their game 0–2.
Florida’s Finnish players are currently the leading figures in the driver’s section of the panther bus heading towards the terminal station at high speed, and you don’t need any colored glasses to say that.
Florida’s Finns underline the differences between the two teams. Florida is a team on a completely different level than Edmonton in terms of player quality and depth, and that’s why it’s so much easier to stifle McDavid and Draisaitl.
Regarding Edmonton, all the pre-set threats are coming true, except for the meltdown of the goalie game.
When resistance is very possible, the Oilers have shrunk again to a team of a few top individuals. It is certainly a united group, but on the ice the roles are wrong. Too many players are unable to carry their own water. Florida doesn’t really have such problems.
In terms of play, on Tuesday, after a good opening match, Edmonton was weak and badly down. It had major problems with opening play, as predicted under the series. It handled pucks in its own area and was not able to go on attacks repeatedly with sufficient quality.
As a result, the Oilers’ offensive game is at times the same as McDavid’s high-speed individual solos, which is to say, very fragile.
Injuries speak volumes
Injuries are also a huge challenge for Edmonton’s championship dreams. In the second part of the series, the defender Darnell Nurse didn’t play more than half a minute in the second half and a striker Evander Kane has reportedly been playing injured for a long time. This has rendered the player almost useless.
Edmonton is too broken and too fragile. You can sense from everything that this Oilers is not ready and simply not a quality enough team to be a champion. Its game and body language are much the same as Florida had a year ago.
In last year’s finals, Florida was learning and paying tuition fees. Edmonton is doing the same now.
Edmonton should not be condemned to doom yet, but Florida’s determined and high-quality playing would seem to be too much for the Canadian team. On Tuesday, Florida, which clearly raised the level of its game from the opening part, did not give the visiting team a single place in the best scoring sector with five against five. The performance is exceptionally hard in the final stage.
Even from Edmonton’s destructive superiority game, the sense of danger has disappeared due to Florida’s brilliant understrength. At the beginning of the second match, the Oilers’ superiority was really weak and it certainly ate up energy from the rest of the game.
At the same time, McDavid and Draisaitl’s body language has begun to exude frustration. The latter “capped off” his night by tackling Barkov directly in the head with an ugly jump tackle at the end of the third period. Barkov had to leave the match, which is of course a huge concern for the Panthers considering the three-way match.
All in all, the final series would seem to be two very different teams in very different situations. The other has a clear goal and all the tools to achieve it. The other one doesn’t.
A short final series is very likely ahead.
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