Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen is one of the goalie surprises of the NHL season. On Sunday, he made history by winning his tenth away game in a row since the beginning of the season.
For someone who moved to Vancouver in the summer To Kevin Lankins29, has marked each of Vancouver’s 10 road wins of the season, a new NHL record. Counting from the beginning of the season, no other goaltender in the history of the NHL has been able to win ten consecutive road games. Nine victories have been achieved Glen Hall in 1965 and Cam Talbot in 2023.
Lankinen now owns the record alone and will seek to extend the streak on Wednesday morning in Minnesota.
Pekka Rinneone of the greatest Finnish goalkeepers of all time, was excited about the achievement.
– I have to remember that lätka has been played for quite a long time. The puck has fallen on the ice many times in that league. Records like this don’t come around very often. A really great thing for “Keke”, Rinne told Urheilu.
Rinne is excited for Lankinen because of their short history together. For the previous two seasons, Lankinen represented Nashville, where Rinne has worked as a player observer and in the development work of young goalkeepers after his playing career.
Rinne has closely followed the story of Lankinen, who rose to third place in the victory statistics, this season as well.
– Lankinen’s story is great. When you still remember how things went in the summer. He was suddenly without a contract and had to dig for a place in the NHL. It took a little bit of other people’s misfortune, when (Thatcher) Demko has been semi-fit for a long time, Rinne said.
The US point guard has been sidelined with a mysterious injury since last spring. It is known to be a rare minor injury to the knee flexor muscle, and no one seems to have any information on the return schedule.
Lankinen ate the Latvian in front of him
And Lankinen wasn’t originally Vancouver’s starting goalkeeper. The Latvian goalie, who also spotted Demko excellently in the playoffs last spring Arturs Silovs was certainly the number one goalkeeper in the papers of the club and coaching management beforehand.
Lankinen has already eaten the Latvian in front of him a long time ago.
– And Vancouver is not the easiest place to play. It’s nice there when the game is going, but things could be different, Rinne reminds, referring to the sharp-tongued supporters and media crowd.
Rinne says that Lankinen is an exceptionally calm person as a goalkeeper, but at the same time very ambitious. This also led to the departure from Nashville.
– Nashville would have liked to keep Kevin, but he had played Jusen (Saros) behind a couple of good seasons with little playing time and wanted more responsibility. He’s really ambitious, even if he doesn’t show it like that. He is certainly concerned about being able to play as a first-choice player.
The role of the number one guard in the search
Lankinen has experience as a first keeper since his rookie season in 2020–2021 from Chicago. At that time, Lankinen started 37 matches and was in a downright excellent strike, especially in the autumn season. Since then, the Helsinki keeper has operated in the role of second keeper until this fall.
Rinne believes in Lanki.
– He has already been able to show that he can carry the team. Of course, the season is still young. Especially January and February are a time of grinding, when you play a lot. If you can get through it, then it will be easier. Kevin has already shown that he can do it, and I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to do it in the future, says Rinne.
In Vancouver, however, the road rises when the American guard Demko returns.
– As a 29-year-old goalkeeper, Lankinen is just entering his best years. Time is still on his side. If he plays well from now until the end of the season, he will certainly get a chance to fight for the position of first goalkeeper at least somewhere else. That is, if there is no possibility for that in Vancouver.