Vancouver’s goaltending situation has been one of the interesting topics of the NHL playoffs.
A candidate for the best goalkeeper in the regular season Thatcher Demko was injured in the first game and this has been ruined Casey DeSmith in a triple play. In the quadruple game, Latvia’s World Championship hero from a year ago was blocked with a goal Arturs Silovs.
Each of Vancouver’s three wins (3-2 in the series) has been scored by a different goalkeeper. Vancouver has allowed only twelve goals in five matches, so none of the players have been caught.
‘s hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen however, does not consider the situation favorable.
– It’s a hellish situation for the playoffs, you can’t get over it or around it, Lehkonen begins.
– The goalkeeper is half of the team, if not more. Such a situation will inevitably start to show in the way the team plays as well. The situation easily starts to strain the gameplay.
– In Vancouver, too, defense and playing have become overconfident and timid. It can then also be seen in the play of the attacking end. They have been on their socks for a bit, avoiding freezing and other things.
Who surprised?
of Colorado Artturi Lehkonen had five hits, one per game, in the series against Winnipeg that ended Wednesday morning.
Even from a broader perspective, the goal streak is really tough in the playoff world.
Only Finns have achieved a longer streak in the playoffs Esa Tikkanenwho hit in six straight games in the spring of 1990.
Lehkonen was anyway the best attacker of his team in the series of matches, in which Colorado even somewhat surprisingly hit Winnipeg with a 4-1 victory.
Lehkonen has been one of the most talked about players this spring on both sides of the Atlantic. Lehkonen’s work ethic, responsible playing and ability to solve big matches have started to attract more and more attention. Colorado pilot Jared Bednar always praised Lehkos during the series and called him one of the most underrated players in the series.
Where does Artturi Lehkonen’s winning character come from?
Ismo Lehkonen is Arttur’s father, so he can explain the matter with a descriptive example from years ago.
– When Finland lost to Sweden in 2003 after leading the game 5–1, he called me to bring two Swedish jerseys. Then we had a lot of Finland-Sweden games in the yard games. He wanted to make sure there that this would never happen again. It’s funny how you get emotional sometimes. Artturi always wanted to play all the games one by one. For him, playing the short game was the thing. All sports from one ball or game. Huge amounts of World Cup and Stanley Cup final replays are below, Ismo-Isä laughs.
The father considers his son’s short memory a great strength.
– In Sweden, his defensive and grappling game things were fixed in time. I also consider it an asset for him that he knows how to shut everything out of his mind during the game. He always plays exactly the same shift and doesn’t really react to anything. It’s all about the next shift. And that’s what the coaches always say in the playoffs.
Who cheated?
All credit to Colorado for a clear series win (4–1), but Winnipeg has to be counted as the biggest disappointment of the spring.
The Jets went into the spring with huge expectations after a strong regular season, but ended up with a tasteless pancake. A 7-0 blowout win over Colorado at the end of the regular season ultimately didn’t carry any weight as Colorado stepped up their game and Winnipeg didn’t.
Winnipeg won the series opener 7–6, but didn’t play a game after that.
– Did the 7–0 and 7–6 victories give the team the wrong message that it is easy to be beaten here. It wouldn’t be the first time the team strayed from the path like this. Winnipeg didn’t get a new gear in the series. They played regular season hockey and at the same time Colorado made a big change of rhythm, according to Lehkonen.
The biggest surprise was seen in the mouths of the goals. The Colorado guard who was in big trouble at the end of the regular season Alexander Georgiev got his game together and was chosen as the best in the regular season in the summer Connor Hellebuyck melted completely. In the end, Hellebuyck didn’t catch anything and conceded more than five goals on average.
– The first match (7–6) was hell on earth for the veskars, and the future Vezina winner (Hellebuyck) couldn’t break the cycle after that, and couldn’t take the win. On the other side, at the same time, Georgiev showed mental toughness.
In the end, Colorado’s speed was what a regressive Winnipeg couldn’t find an answer for.
– Maybe Winnipeg’s weakness is that it is a big and heavy team. The tempo that Colorado maintained was just too much for them. It was too busy.
Goal of the week
Kaapo Kako scored his first playoff goal of the spring in the opening game against Washington. In a chain of three by Alexander Wennberg and Will Cuyllen playing with TPS filled his box well in the Washington series.
– That series was promising for him. Still, it has to be said that it’s inconceivable that he doesn’t use his heavy hard shot more. He can hide his shot well and it goes off fast, so start shooting good boy! It’s too much that he wants to feed.
What next?
The question has been asked numerous times in Toronto in recent years, and this spring is no exception. The Maple Leafs kept their hopes alive early Wednesday by beating Boston in overtime, but a series victory can be considered quite unlikely.
Falling once again would drive the eternal failure as an organization into huge chaos and under an avalanche of criticism. Losing is one thing, but the way Toronto has gotten into a losing position is another.
From time to time the team plays as if without a pulse, and in another moment it makes fools of the opponents of the match by making stupid excuses. And the star players scraping around 40 million slices from the salary cap have not been seen in the front row.
Austin Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares have collected three goals.
Over the weekend, some of the star players were photographed on the bench talking to each other. Mitch Marner slapped his gloves along the substitution fence as he spoke.
– I believe that part of the rift arises from the fact that some play skill hockey and some sow discord there. Was it the right decision for the club management to get troublemakers there? That jumbled soup just doesn’t work. Looking at something Max Domia, then the flashing, shaking and stupid chills have completely escaped from him. That kind of person is really undisciplined, and not winning hockey in any way. And of course, this is where the eyes turn behind the bench to see if you can’t get the players to play correctly, says Lehkonen.
If the Leafs, who have lost six consecutive playoff home games, are eliminated in the first round, the doors will start to open on the club.
– If this goes badly again, then you have to shake things up properly. Something like Auston Matthews would fetch a huge return in that market. If we shake it, we do it so that a bang is heard.
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