“Teuvo is a typical three-point shooter”

‘s next TV matches will be shown on Sunday 22.5. The fight between Tampa Bay and Florida will be shown on TV2 at 8.15pm. As soon as the game is over, we will move on to the New York Rangers-Carolina match.

Carolina Hurricanes succeeded in a tight spot and settled for a seven-game NHL playoff round. Hurricanes, who were disappointed in the playoffs against the Boston Bruins twice in the next few years, finally got their revenge.

Known as a man of big games Teuvo Sharp was again on a strong head when the stakes were the toughest. The Finnish striker collected 1 + 1 powers when Carolina took the sevens game to his name.

– This was a really important victory for us. It was precisely winning Boston that was on the minds of anyone involved in losing to them twice before. Those losses gave us more spark, that’s clear, Sharp smiles.

This is what Teräväinen has done often in the NHL – standing out when the team has missed it the most.

Already in his first full NHL season in Chicago, the Helsinki striker appeared in the Stanley Cup finals. In the third set of the first final, Teräväinen hit the match 1–1 just over six minutes before the final buzzer. Two minutes later, a Finnish newcomer started Antoine Vermetten hit a winning hit.

Three days later, Teräväinen hit a 2-1 lead in Chicago in a losing match. In the critical fifth final at Tampa, Sharp laid an important opening goal for Chicago. The Blackhawks won the match and a couple of days later lifted the pitcher on their home ice.

Chicago’s entry cassation was ultimately the most powerful striker in the entire final series with four power points.

Carolina’s season was interrupted in the spring of 2019 in the sixth match against Washington. It was a loss of 1-2 matches, until a less surprising red cat came out: 2-2. It was also at a loss after the seven-time stand-up game 1–3 until Teräväinen started Kirin with his goal, which ended in an extra time win.

In the next round, the series against the New York Islanders had to be packed after three wins, Teräväinen hit 1 + 1 for the first 22 minutes. A year ago, Teräväinen recorded 1 + 1 in the second round against Tampa, including an overtime finish in the only winning match in the Carolina series.

Feeling sharp from Chicago for years Antti Raanta not surprised when Teräväinen hit the puck finish at an important place over the weekend.

– Playoffs often mean that the simpler you do things, the better. Teuvo certainly plays, but at the same time is a virtuoso who is able to create situations from scratch. Sometimes he just thinks that’s how he saw it. There are feeds that others don’t even think about or try, Raanta laughs.

Few people think of Sharp, who is known for his passing skills, as a goal scorer, but in tight places this has also shown his ability to finish cold. For example, in the spring of 2019, Teräväinen scored seven goals in 15 playoffs.

– Teukka can do havoc with his shot. I have sometimes told Teuvo if it would be worth taking a little more, Raanta says.

– The best thing is that Teuvo is doing a lot of things right and is not trying to do something special. But when the place comes and the stakes are high, Teukka is at his best.

Also a master pilot Karri Kivi knows what Raanta is talking about. Kivi, who coached Aces Finland and the Young Lions as world champion, made Teräväinen the captain of the gold team under the age of 20 during the winter 2014 World Championships after Olli Määttä had headed to the NHL.

The rest is Finnish hockey history. Teräväinen, who won the points exchange of the tournament, credited 2 + 1 to his account in the semi-final against Canada. In the finals, this bait included each of Finland’s three goals Rasmus Ristolainen hit by a golden overtime hit.

– There is artistry in Teuvo. He’s a typical three-point shooter that when a match has to be resolved a couple of seconds before the end, he wants to take it to the throw. He wants responsibility on his shoulders. The competition in Teuvo is at a terrible level and the head is made for top sports. The pressure tolerance is at an incomprehensible level, Kivi praises.

In the case of Sharp, however, it is not just about points. The decisive goals and passes are more the result of the uniformity of the overall gameplay. The sharp versatility is also indicated by the fact that this one plays in Carolina a lot not only with superiority but also with underpowering.

– It is descriptive that Teuvo was our best underpower player, even though he was still young and an artist by nature. The sharp playhead and creativity with superiority is reflected in how he can also play underpower. At some point in the tournament, Teuvo came to say that he could play more, Kivi recalls.

– I said that you are our number one center, playing in number one strength, number one in strength and we are only in the beginning of the series, we can’t start stealing at this point when there is so much left of the tournament, Kivi continues with a laugh.

The leadership brought by the sharp table is of a quiet quality.

– Teuka’s mother had had fun with the media after the tournament, wondering how Teuvo has been made a captain. Teuvo was a really good captain. He was quite the number one player in the games, but also quite good in practice. He has much the same as Eemeli in Finland. They don’t talk like Runeberg, but the chores and responsibilities are always taken care of.

There is also quiet quality when Teräväinen himself talks about his successes. Known for Napaka’s relentless self-criticism, Sharp is not the type of person who would enjoy keeping noise around him. Highlights of your career in terms of personal success Sharp bundles the short concisely.

– Hard to compare, but at least in the June Games Saku Mäenalasen finishing right after the Swedish tie was a pretty big deal. In the finals of the Stanley Cup, I got a couple of successes in the first game and then I don’t think there will be any others, Teräväinen throws in his own laconic way.

Sharp himself does not believe in running after goals.

– Goals and points will come if you have to. I just try to play well. Yes, that puck then bounces on that shoulder at the right time when doing the right things on the ice. You need to be aware of the stakes and be awake at meetings to know what to do and not to do on the field. For us, too, it’s pretty accurate. At the same time, however, you need to be relaxed.

Next up in the way of Carolina and Sharpinen will be the New York Rangers, who will go into the series through both material and customary things as a clear underdog.

– We have lunch to hurt them. There is depth in our line-up and it is difficult to play against us through the way we play. However, a new series is at hand and these are never difficult to predict. The series always goes in some direction and evolves from it. Let’s go there and leave everything on the ice.

If Carolina leaves this series as a winner as well, there is good reason to wait for at least one Finn to emerge at critical moments.