Ismo Lehkonen predicts a dizzying Finnish final in the NHL – follow these things in the conference finals | Sport

For the second year in a row, the NHL’s conference finals are full of Finns. A year ago, three of the four semifinal teams had a Finnish number one center: Florida Alexander Barkovon Carolina Sebastian Aho and Dallas Roope Hintz. In the end, the Finns were left licking their fingers when Vegas took the championship.

Barkov and Hintz are close to the finals this time as well, as they are last year Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen from Florida as well Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell From Dallas. Jani Hakanpää belongs to the equipment of the patient in Dallas. Rangers will be seen as a new Finnish player in the semi-finals Kaapo Kako.

New York Rangers – Florida Panthers

In the East, the two best teams in the conference will skate on the ice. Florida is known as a team that can play almost any type of hockey, but the Rangers’ defense-oriented style of play brings an interesting twist to the series.

Will it take the edge off Florida’s top quality team?

– It will be interesting to see in which direction this series will go game-wise and who will take it. I think Rangers may well go with a scorched earth tactic to play through the defense. We will see a midfield 1–3–1 trap and disciplined and ice-free defense, hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen forecast.

Florida has played a lot through the end, but is it worth playing that way against the Rangers?

– There is one of the best goalkeepers in the series playing with a stick (Igor Shostjorkin), who has a libero defender to help him. Whether there will be a change in the game or whether the puck will be thrown into the corner of the half of the game so that the goalkeeper cannot reach it, Lehkonen is wondering.

As always in the playoffs, gambling plays a big role in this series as well. There are three good chains from both teams, but who is playing against whom and are we going to start playing around? In the first two games, Rangers have the last substitution right. It will be especially interesting to see who the Floridas, known for their aggressiveness, will face Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk are playing.

– I bet that Lundell and Kakko of the triple chains play a lot against each other, but after that it’s a different story. Do they want Rangers Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, that Bennett and Tkachuk are neck and neck all the time and grind them to a pulp? They certainly don’t want to, Lehkonen laughs.

– Maybe the Rangers’ first chain could play against these Bennetts, take and give hits to compete with them, and then Barkov would play against Panarin’s chain.

In special situations, both teams have been good on both sides of the puck throughout the spring, and there are no big differences in the goaltending either. Both Shostjork and Florida Sergei Bobrovsky have played a good spring.

– Rightfully so, the two best in the east are now fighting for a place in the finals. According to Lehkonen, his own wise man points more in the direction of Florida.

Dallas Stars – Edmonton Oilers

The teams come to the finals of the Western Conference from very different starting points. Dallas faced the reigning champion in the first round and the champion two years back in the second. So first it took down Vegas and then Colorado. It was easy for Dallas to get nothing in the first two rounds, which must have sapped strength, but going through difficulties also discouraged the collective.

Edmonton had to wrestle with Vancouver for a full seven games, but perhaps Los Angeles and Vancouver were not as challenging as Vegas and Colorado.

Lehkonen believes that Dallas will approach the series against Edmonton the same way it approached them against Vegas and Colorado. This is also because now it is like the previous series Connor McDavid’s, Leon Draisaitl and having played an excellent series in Vancouver by Evan Bouchard through against the league’s strongest star category glory.

If the aforementioned trio stops, all of Edmonton stops.

– Dallas found its identity after losing 0-2 in the Vegas series. They play big through defense, that is, all the action starts from protecting the own goal in all three areas of the field. There, the attackers are constantly in the gaps and the opponent has to do a huge job to get to the goal posts. Dallas is still a really fast team, so Edmonton doesn’t get an advantage from that, Lehkonen sees.

Where Dallas is a really high-quality and deep team, Edmonton lives a lot on its top players and its extremely dangerous possession game. There is no reason to underestimate the rest of the Oilers team, but the hope of a trip to the finals rests north of the border emphatically on the tip. Will Dallas be able to stop it?

– Well, they took the tip away from Colorado as well and there it was Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makaria and Mikko from Ranta opposite. Dallas forced Colorado’s top players into really heavy turnovers constantly. The same rally is now in store for Edmonton’s boys. Due to side and back pressure, McDavid has to do a huge job to even be able to carry the puck.

Goalkeeper play is a theme that cannot be ignored in this series either. Dallas Jake Oettinger is playing an excellent spring, but Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner already got pushed out of his goal once in the middle of the second round. Skinner returned to the goal in victorious matches number six and seven, but has been anything but convincing throughout the spring. The fight percentage with this one shows only 88.

– If you look at Skinner’s personality and body language, you can see the pressure. Oettinger cleared the last couple of championship teams and is on top of his game. In addition, an excellent quality defense helps him a lot. Yes, this is where the scales turn for Dallas.

All in all, Lehkonen’s scales are tipped in favor of Dallas.

That’s how it is and it’s a bit in hopes for the sake of the Finns.