Artturi Lehkonen plays the lead role in the love story of the NHL spring – see the dazzling moments that crystallize the value of the “soul player”

‘s next NHL TV match will be shown on TV2 on Sunday night at 10 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers will face off in the third match of the final series of the Eastern Conference at the time.

Artturi Lehkonen was a Colorado character when the team defeated Edmonton to repeat the NHL Western Conference finals. Lehkonen hit 1 + 1 when Avalanche took a convincing 4-0 win over Oilers.

Lehkonen, who played in Montreal for the last contract period, has had a button purchase from Colorado in March. The past few months have shown that an attacker with great gameplay and work ethic was the best hijacking of the transfer line.

At the last minute, many players who were better known and more expensive than Lehko were moving. However, few have been able to bring significant added value to their new team.

Lehkonen has adapted to Colorado and quickly become the leading player in Avalanche. His brilliance or power (5 + 3) in the playoffs could be called a sensation if there was anything surprising about it.

The fact is that Lehkonen has been playing like this for a long time. It seems that many in Finland and North America have only woken up to Lehkonen’s strong overall play when he was traded to a really high-quality team.

Lehkonen was the absolute best of his team last summer when Montreal rushed unexpectedly until the Stanley Cup finals. The most equal Finn was the best striker on his team in terms of, among other things, shots and goal expectations – despite the fact that he started 65% from his own area.

During the last two relegation springs in Montreal (2020 and 2021), the ratio of finishes in Lehkonen’s number one sector was 58 percent. In addition, Lehkonen played the second most of the attackers with underpower and, among other things, blocked the most shots per hour he played (3.47).

In the playoffs in 2019–2021, Lehkonen scored five victories, the most for the Montreal team.

However, the splendor of Turku is best understood with the naked eye. It’s about “soul gaming” and work ethic that few can match even in the playoffs of the world’s best hockey league. Every single shift, the gas is at the bottom and the game doesn’t go for a run.

Such players are even more valuable than gold, especially in the playoffs.

Colorado is one of the NHL’s biggest championship favorites. An attack-oriented team is too often attracted to a goal-scoring competition.

And that’s why Lehko, who profiles himself as a balancing glue player, is also loved in Denver. Such a player is appreciated by every hockey coach in the world.

In Thursday’s conference final, Lehkonen’s abilities were seen as a fantastic example in the first two goals of Colorado.

1-0: wins the fight and puck in the middle, then rushes to put pressure on the defenders. Darnell Nurse gives pressure feed directly Mikko Rantanen to the blade that supplies the disc Nazem Kadrille. At this point, Lehkonen is already heading for the goal and directs Kadri’s shot well into the net.

Watch the situation in the video below.

And fifteen seconds later:

2-0: Colorado throws the puck to the end of the puck, where Lehkonen tackles Connor McDavidin from the quantity. When Rantanen wrestles with two Oilers players on the puck, Lehkonen comes and takes the puck off his feet, delivering it to Kadri. This moves the puck defender To Josh Mansonwhich blows the disc into the grid.

Watch the situation in the video below.

Fifteen seconds can hold a lot of really done little things – so and power 1 + 1.

In North America, star cult and paintballs are leading the debate. That is why Lehkonen’s abilities have only been awakened through the effects of recent weeks. Of course, six points for the last six matches is also a tough performance.

Perhaps the efficiency of goal scoring is the only thing Lehkonen has greatly improved about Montreal. In his NHL career, a winger who fired with nine percent efficiency has hit the playoffs with one in five (20%) attempts.

In Lehkonen’s case, it’s about a terrible workload and understanding and respecting the most important laws of the game. There is talk of small and even invisible winning things that can be done to win the Stanley Cup by doing the other thing.

After just a couple of months, it feels weird to think about the Colorado Avalanche without Artturi Lehko. That, if that is a big compliment to the player.