Aleksander Barkov spoke at the NHL’s media day about the avalanche of spring criticism and the subsequent growth: “History weighed in”

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LAS VEGAS. NHL playoff spring is a long time. Although only sixteen wins are required for the championship, the journey of even the best team can often contain many stories – ups and downs.

Winners have one characteristic in common: the ability to learn from difficulties and find ways to succeed.

The Finnish captain of the Florida Panthers has also emerged through difficulties Alexander Barkov. Barkov previously became the first Finnish captain in NHL history to lead his team to the finals of the Stanley Cup.

However, the journey has taken its toll.

Florida, which entered the playoffs a year earlier with the status of the regular season winner, crashed ugly out of the championship fight already in the second round, and Barkov himself did not play at his best level.

When, after a weak regular season, Florida found itself in a 1-3 loss position against Boston in the opening round this spring, Barkov found himself in the middle of the strongest criticism storm of his career – now also in North America.

And on the subject.

Barkov did not score a single hit in the first four matches and thus the balance of the previous four playoff seasons was four scored goals in 24 matches.

The player from Tampere, who is preparing for the starting final series in Las Vegas, admitted to Urheilu on Friday’s media day that the narrative of the difficult spring began to live its own life in the player’s own head as well.

– I completely agree that the Boston series was difficult for me personally. Yes, history weighed on that, because I haven’t been at my best in the playoffs, where of course I’d like to be at my best. It hadn’t happened before and then the same thing continued against Boston, Barkov said.

Barkov did not experience the avalanche of criticism as a great sorrow.

– In the name of honesty, I don’t really read any stuff, it’s not my style. I knew myself that I wasn’t at my best.

However, Barkov found the means. Although the results were not at the expected level, the Tappara-raised player, who was chosen as the NHL’s best defensive forward a year ago, was able to help his team in other ways. In three consecutive Boston victories, the opponent’s star players scored one goal with Barkov’s 5-for-5 shift.

The effects finally hit the important seams, in the sixth and seventh games. In the deadlock, Barkov scored the equalizer in the last minute of the match that extended the game to overtime.

– Somehow I was able to pull myself together with the help of the coach and teammates. Of course, I wanted to play especially well defensively in such a situation, but I always want to be good at both ends, Barkov emphasized.

Dominance

After Barkov cleared the Boston test, he hasn’t looked back. The center forward started the second round against Toronto by scoring two goals, followed by a big goal scored in the second game. Against Carolina, the performances of the first two games were 1+2 and in the tiebreaker game 0+2.

Still, the most important consideration was related to overall gameplay. In the last two match series against Barkov’s chain, only one hit was made with five against five. The performance is staggering considering the kind of superstar level gamblers Barkov defeated.

– The Toronto series was better for me and the Carolina series even better. Hopefully this will be an upbeat spring, Barkov smiled.

At the same time, Barkov assures that he has shaken off the grudges of previous years.

– Of course there is such a feeling now. I got successes below and now last year or any other year doesn’t weigh anymore. Now let’s just try to enjoy this and win something big.

The apprentice has a big screen

Barkov is a key factor in the starting series of finals, but it is also in many respects as if in Barkov’s footsteps as an excellent two-way player operating three-chain center forward Anton Lundell21. The HIFK graduate is still young and inexperienced, but he attended a tough NHL college during the spring.

And the challenge won’t get any easier now. In the final series, the solution behind the even top chains may be found in triple and quadruple chains. So Lundell should be able to play plus-mark hockey in the series, even though he may face by Jack Eichel superstars like

– After all, this spring has been one big challenge. were against Boston David Krejci and Pastrnakagainst Toronto John Tavares and against Carolina Sebastian Aho. We are still on the plus side against everyone, and yes, that says something about our chain. I miss playing against us because there is so much work to be done, Lundell said in an interview with Urheilu.

On the plus side, really true. In the Toronto and Carolina series, Lundell’s chains scored one goal with five against five.

– Here are two quite similar teams, whose central attackers have a lot of speed. My job is to get my chain’s game rolling. It also means goals.

The final match series starts on Sunday morning at 03:00 Finnish time. of Florida Eetu Luostarinen practiced on Friday, but the injury suffered by the Finn to play in the opening match is uncertain.