will show two NHL playoff games this weekend. On Saturday night, Toronto–Florida from 2:05 am. On Sunday night, it’s Seattle–Dallas starting at 2:05. Live broadcasts on Areena and TV2.
Others start directly at the top. Carolina Jesperi Kotkaniemi is still in the development phase as a player, but at the team level, the striker from Pori has started from the top. The ace coach booked by Montreal already played with Les Habitants in his second NHL season at the age of 20 in the Stanley Cup finals.
There was no Lord of the Rings from Montreal at that time.
Then came the move to Carolina and two more playoff rounds on the belt. Carolina’s road was cut short a year ago in the second round by the New York Rangers.
Not bored now. Early on Friday morning, the Hurricanes defeated New Jersey 3-2 in overtime in the fifth game of the second round and advanced to the conference finals for the first time since spring 2019.
Kotkaniemi has played five seasons in the NHL and participated in the playoffs four times – once in the finals. The final match drug is not far away either.
Kotkaniemi has already played 54 playoff games in the NHL. The amount is exceptionally high for a 22-year-old player.
If Carolina would play two more long series, the Pori center would approach the limit of even 70 games within this season.
You can put the reading into perspective when you realize that only 18 players in Finnish NHL history have broken the 70-match limit. One longer spring and Kotkaniemi is among the top ten in the all-time statistics.
For the previous four years, Kotkaniemi’s number of matches has only been matched by Finns Artturi Lehkonen.
A growth story
Kotkaniemi is profiling himself as a strong spring player at a young age. The center forward’s playful nature seems to come out in the best possible way exactly when the referees’ whistles are stuffed into their pockets and the game on the rink gets tough.
There is strength and the will to fight, and Tackling tastes good. Finnish attackers only Leo Komarov and Artturi Lehkonen have tackled more than Kotkaniemi during the previous four playoff seasons.
The experience of the spring battles has also started to show in the making of Kotkaniemi. There is a growth story going on right now, which not every young player is capable of, especially in the playoffs.
In the opening round against the New York Islanders, Kotkaniemi was not at his best and the balance was recorded as 0+1 and -5.
Certainly not what he expected of himself.
However, Kotkaniemi was able to change direction in the middle of the spring and in the second round series against New Jersey, he was a key factor. In the first match, Kotkaniemi scored an important goal and continued to dominate right at the beginning of the second match by rolling the Devils captain to the surface of the ice with a really hard tackle by Nico Hischer.
Two more hits were made later in the same match.
Perhaps the strongest proof of the player’s mental growth was seen in the foursome. In fact, the Kotkaniemi chain took all the hits made by New Jersey’s first chain in the three-game sweep (4–8): -4.
Kotkaniemi didn’t rest on his laurels either. Next game balance 0+1 and +3.
On Friday morning, Kotkaniemi started the overtime hit that ended the series.
Old time shit
The strong growth of the second chain led by Kotkaniemi came at an important point for Carolina. Carolina has to operate without three key players (Andrei Svetshnikov, Teuvo Teräväinen, Max Pacioretty), in which case it truly needs every single player in its lineup.
To this cry of Kotkaniemi, Jesper Fastin and Jordan Martin too formed by the trio responded in a wonderful way in the Devils series.
The wings rattled and power was born.
The trio took three of the first four places in Carolina’s internal point exchange for the Devils series. In the tackle statistics, the rankings are 1st, 2nd, and 6th.
Old time hockey!
If the diving in the triple game is left out of the bills, the trio won their game five against five with goals 7–1 and dangerous goal posts 13–2!
A clear identity carries
Beating New Jersey in five games was the latest sign of Carolina’s willingness to go all the way this spring.
Of the remaining teams, Carolina has by far the clearest identity and style of play, which carry even when important players are on the sidelines.
Every player in the team knows exactly how to play in any situation. Through this, the changes in the chain compositions are not visible much.
The Hurricanes are a four chain team in the truest sense of the word. Every player who is still involved has reached power points, and the goals have been distributed among 14 different players.
It will continue to be very difficult to beat such a compact, clear identity, high-quality way of playing and a very disciplined four-cylinder team in the match series.
What thoughts did the story evoke? You can discuss the topic on 13.5. until 11 p.m.