The lions will meet Sweden on Wednesday. Finland’s special situation gaming has been at a tremendous level. Expert Juha Juujärvi explains why Lions have painted so many times with superiority.
18.5. 08:27 • Updated May 18 08:27
Finland will meet Sweden on Wednesday from 8.20 pm. Urheil follows the matches of the Lions, the news of the competition and the competition humor of Tampere and Helsinki in this article.
Finland has started the World Hockey Championships in Tampere Arena with three victories and brilliant special situation efficiency.
Finland has won Norway 5–0, Latvia 2–1 and the USA 4–1. Of the 11 lions hits, six have been born with force majeure. There have been 15 opportunities for force majeure, so the percentage of force majeure is 40%.
Finland has been underpowered eight times, but has never allowed a puck in its own situations in special situations. The combined percentage of underpower and overpower is a staggering 140 – although sampling is still slow.
Below is the Lions Superiority Stock Exchange. Mikael Granlund was not yet involved in the Norwegian opening match. The story continues after the graphics.
This is how Finland’s superiority rolls
When Finland has managed to run the compulsive game with force, versatility has been found in both fields, praises Urheilun’s expert Juha Juujärvi.
– Mikko Lehtonen is able to be a constant threat to the shot in the first superiority and spread the puck to both sides. On the other hand, Leijonat is able to play deep, close to the goal and play a pilot game or cross passes there, in. Juujärvi.
Finland has used four attackers with force. In first place, defender Lehtonen is operating convincingly on the line. Granlund and Sakari Manninen. Teemu Hartikainen has played his opponent in the middle of the square and Jere Sallinen in front of the paint.
In the second superiority composition, the defender Sami Vatanen has played with the blue line. As a “wingman” on the sides, the puck has been split Toni Rajala or Jere Innala and on the other side Joel Armiathe center of the space is done Valtteri Filppula and the front of the paint is rotten Harri Pesonen.
– The role is strong, but the players have played so that the superiority has not been schematic. Situations have been responded to quickly and the weak moments of force majeure have been exploited. Undoubtedly, Finland has taken advantage of the stupid game of underpower, Juujärvi inches, of the opponent, especially the USA.
For example, Juujärvi raises Finland’s 3–0 hit against the United States. The greatest star and captain of the Yankees, a defender Seth Jones Sallinen wasn’t much help defensively.
What is important in first-class superiority is that Lehtonen is able to operate over a wide radius close to the blue line, offering the threat of firing all the time.
Meanwhile, Granlund circles pretty close to the blue line to provide a feeding spot. When Granlund gets the puck, he drives towards the center, inside the line of b-points. It gives Granlund the opportunity to shoot himself, or Granlund can send the puck to the center to be guided by Hartikainen.
Finland’s 1–1 draw against Latvia came when Granlund shot past the front corner. However, the puck bounced off the goal to another post where the scorer Manninen had slipped.
If an opponent’s downplayer rises higher to take Granlund’s chance of a shot, Granlund will be able to feed the puck deep. This is exactly how Finland’s previously mentioned 3–0 against the USA was built.
– The key thing is Lehtonen’s movement in both directions, and through that good games for wing players, Juujärvi says.
– The game is created in both depth and width. After the feeds, all sectors are challenged towards the center and are able to break into the core. There is not so much a threat from cross-feed, as shots are traditionally sought directly from the feed, Juujärvi continues.
On the other side, a player firing from the right could play, allowing Granlund to seek cross passes for him through the opponent’s underpower square. So far, there has been Manninen in this spot, playing like Granlund with his left hand down.
Another possible pattern, which has not been seen so much yet, is that Manninen would search Hartika for his feed. In that case, Hartikainen must move close enough to Mann to play. It is an axis that, according to Juujärvi, has worked really well in the past.
If an opponent’s attacker moves to cover Hartikainen’s draw, he can open a long pass to the crossfield for Granlund. Another option is to drop the line to Lehtonen. Through this, Finland also has a threat to shots directly from the feed.
Where is Miro Heiskanen put?
The number one superiority has worked so well that Juujärvi would not break it, even though Finland gets the absolute top of the NHL in defense, Dallas Stars Miro Heiskasen. Heiskanen may be in line-up against Britain for the first time on Friday.
In secondary supremacy, the role has been “more traditional” than in primary supremacy. The Armia, which fires from the right side, has played on one side and the left hand down Innala or Rajala on the other side. One option would be for Heiskanen to take his place in the second round from the blue line and Vatanen to take the place of the Army as a wingman.
Juujärvi says that anyway Jukka Jalosen and the rest of the Lions coaching leadership is facing difficult reflection.
– Lehtonen is a player of the same style as Heiskanen in terms of both hand and left style. Lehtonen has played so well the role that Heiskanen would bring to me so that I would not leave from the number one supremacy to change Lehtonen’s position. In the second superiority, Vata can also be used in the wing instead of the shooter.
Finland has skilfully used the opportunities that have opened up
Thus, with the onset of force majeure, Finland has been able to win a good percentage of starts, in which case the compulsory game has started immediately.
Against the USA and Latvia, Finland gained 79% of the puck from the start of the offensive zone. On these occasions, Finland won the start or was deprived of the puck immediately at the attacking head. Only 3/14 times the opponent won the start so he was able to clear the puck from his defensive area.
If Finland has had to fetch the puck from its own end, the puck’s exports to the attack area have been successful. In the previous two games, the Lions managed to successfully bring the puck from their own end into the attack area – so that the mill of superiority was launched – 14 times from 19 attempts.
– For example, Manninen has done a strong job in loose discs, which has allowed him to continue the game and create immediate goals, Juujärvi adds.
Finland has been strong in these so-called “broken play” situations, where players have advanced their goals with their personal skills. The lions have effectively taken advantage of opponents’ naps. In addition, the basic templates for running a power mill are clear.
Finland will meet Sweden on Wednesday from 8.20 pm. Urheil follows the matches of the Lions, the news of the competition and the competition humor of Tampere and Helsinki in this article.
In addition, matches between France-Italy, Norway-Austria and Switzerland-Slovakia will be played on Wednesday. The full match program can be found here.