Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen were by no means able to get up in the front row to support their team in Tampere, writes Urheilu’s NHL reporter Tommi Seppälä.
Tommi Seppälä NHL reporter
2.11. 21:49•Updated 2.11. 21:51
TAMPERE. The Finnish players did not disappoint the domestic NHL people in Tampere. As has been the custom in previous visits, the Finns have put the best on the table in front of the home crowd.
NHL players of the previous generation acted as pioneers in the early 2010s. In the matches organized in Helsinki in 2010 and 2011, they succeeded in scoring Villet Leino and Eastern mixed Jussi Jokinen.
The big gear hit the eye a few years later.
Patrick Laine scored a hat trick against Florida in Helsinki 2018 and one more hit a day later.
Four years later in Tampere Mikko Rantanen repeated Laine’s trick by hitting the hatted Laine’s Columbus net. Laine herself registered a power of 1+1 for the first match.
of Florida Alexander Barkov didn’t succeed in Helsinki 2018, but in his hometown he beat a bigger owl in the nest. “Tapparan miäs” scored four goals (1+3) on Friday and added one more assist on Saturday.
They also succeeded in scoring Anton Lundell mixed Esa Lindell – also Eetu Luostarinen, Miro Heiskanen and Niko Mikkola received powers to their account.
Appeared only infrequently in Tampere Roope Hintz remained without power markings.
Florida has everything you need to succeed
In a broader view, the best part of the weekend was the overall quality of Florida. In Tampere, the Panthers showed why they are the biggest champion favorite of the season that has started.
The panther pack is the official hell machine of the buck league, which has all the ingredients to grow into one of the toughest dynasties of the modern NHL era.
The Panthers are an extremely high-quality and deep player material, but also a well-coached team. Florida’s game has all the most important pieces of success.
The structure of puck play is good and the team repeats and, if necessary, varies it well. Without the puck, Florida is compact, hardworking, committed and disciplined.
Above all, it is a big and strong fighting team in the corners and in front of the goals. Florida is not invincible either. The head coach Paul Maurice spoke in Tampere about how finding the spark against weaker teams has been challenging at times since the beginning of the season.
The team has lost to, among others, Ottawa, Buffalo and Vancouver. It is worth noting, however, that when the opposition has been last season’s playoff teams, the posture has been found easily.
When talking about pre-seeded teams like the Rangers, Boston and Dallas, there isn’t a single loss.
The Florida weekend was convincing. It doesn’t need to control the flow of the game very often to win matches.
Dallas improved from Friday to Saturday, took the game in many places, created more chances, but Florida had no trouble at any point. Tenacious defending, good goalkeeping and patience lay the groundwork, and when the shot comes, the team punishes.
Florida set the bar for others last spring and will do so again this season. The road to happiness will continue to go through Florida.
The timing of the weekend’s matches will certainly be carefully considered in Dallas as well. The team is good and experienced, but would the bangers be enough to topple Florida in the series?
Dallas’ reversible sled
Dallas has to be considered a nice disappointment for the weekend.
Saturday’s loss was already the fourth in five previous matches. Even though the team, especially on Saturday, did not play below par, it has been far from its best level in the fall, and it starts with the team’s Finnish stars.
Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen were by no means able to stand in the front row in Tampere to support their own team.
Heiskanen’s groundwork is of high quality, but even on the weekend he was content to do just enough. This season, Heiskanen has not been a dynamic dynamo of the frontline puck game like his best rivals. It can be seen in the dwindling points balance.
In the end, Hintz was the only Finnish player who remained without points in Tampere.
With Dallas, there is no reason to feel for the panic button, but as Hintz himself stated after Saturday’s game, it would be good to turn the sled right away.
Even good teams can’t afford too much ski slipping. The star jerseys are all still in good positions through the 7-4 balance, and with the highest probability, Hintz and Heiskanen will also return closer to their best level at some point.