Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen were in top form in the home match against Los Angeles.
Jonne Niemeläinen,
STT Sports
The Finnish winners of the hockey NHL round were the Colorado Avalanche Artturi Lehkonen (1+1) and painted three times Mikko Rantanen (3+1). Avalanche’s Finnish stars both managed to score against Los Angeles, as Colorado celebrated a 4-2 home victory over the top team in the Pacific Division.
Lehkonen scored his third goal of the season from in front of the goal. Lehkonen, who cooled down in the first game, leveled the game at 1–1 in the opening set with Rantanen’s shot from the return puck.
You can watch Lehkonen’s goal by clicking on the main picture of the story.
Lehkonen has registered 3+2 performances in the five matches of the season.
Rantanen succeeded for the first time at the end of the second period, when he tied the game at 2–2. The power forward scored his tenth goal of the season from a drive through with a precise wrist shot. Rantanen managed to become a defender with the Kings guard Cale Makarin as a result of a great long pass.
You can watch Rantanen’s great goal below.
Rantanen, chosen as the best player of the match, scored the winning goal of the match 3–2 in the third period in 50:01. Rantanen got hold of the puck after twisting it to the side and shot it in accurately.
At the end of the match, Rantanen completed his second hat-trick of the season into an empty net, when Nathan MacKinnon and Lehkonen cheated the place for the number one star of the match.
Rantanen, who leads the Finns in points this season, has 12+13=25 of the 17 games of the season under his belt. In the NHL point exchange, the Finn rose to third place thanks to his performance.
Hakanpää returned to the rink after a break of months
The Toronto Maple Leafs visited Washington and the Canadian club won 4-3 overtime against the host team Capitals.
Last played in March Jani Hakanpää returned to the rink having recovered from a knee injury. Hakanpää, representing Toronto, accumulated a good 15 and a half minutes of ice time, but the Finnish defender’s score was still zero.
The match dragged into overtime in Toronto Mitch Marner’s leveled the game with his power play goal in the last moments of the final set. John Tavares sealed the final score for Toronto after a good four minutes of overtime had been played.
The plight of the Pittsburgh Penguins continued when the team lost their home game in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings 2–3. The Penguins have managed to win only three of their last ten games. Penguins Jesse Puljujärvi (+/- 0) played 13.25 minutes in the match.
Detroit sends Husson to the AHL
The Detroit Red Wings say they are sending a Finnish goaltender Ville Husson back to the AHL team in Grand Rapids.
Detroit sent Husson to the AHL at the start of the season, but recalled him last week by Alex Lyon due to injury.
The results of the NHL round:
Pittsburgh–Detroit and 2–3
Washington–Toronto and 3–4
Utah–Carolina 4–1
UTA: Maccelli 0+1
CAR: Aho 0+1
Colorado–Los Angeles 4–2
COL: Lehkonen 1+1, Rantanen 3+1
Anaheim-Vegas 2–3