Mikko Rantanen is the first Finnish player in the 21st century to break the 50-goal barrier. The unassuming power forward takes his record calmly, even though the media has been hyping the subject recently.
Jonne Niemeläinen,
Maija Kautto,
Only Paloniemi
The NHL’s regular season is coming to an end! will broadcast on TV2 and Areena on Saturday 8 April. two matches in a row. First at 7:25 p.m., Buffalo–Carolina, and from 10:25 p.m., Dallas and Vegas face off.
A star striker with a hat trick Mikko Rantanen last night in the hockey Colorado Avalanche’s 6-2 victory over San Jose in the NHL and reached the magical 50-goal mark as the third Finnish player of all time. They have only been able to do the same Jari Kurri and Teemu Selänne.
Kurri broke the 50-goal mark for the first time in the 1983–84 season and eventually exceeded it five times. Selänne scored an incredible 76 goals as a rookie. He reached the 50 goal season three times in his career. Selänte’s last milestone was seen in the 1997–1998 season, since then no Finnish player had reached the milestone of 50 goals in the regular season before Ranta.
Sports expert Ismo Lehkonen according to Rantanen’s efficiency shows that Finland can still become good goal scorers. Lehkonen considers Rantanen’s performance a big deal for Finnish ice hockey.
– We are such a nation that we are humble team players, but we also need goal scorers to win. This gives the youth faith and trust that we too can score goals in tough games and tough series, Lehkonen emphasized.
Lehkonen believes that Rantanen’s goal was to break the 50-goal mark as quickly as possible. Even in the previous match, the goalkeeper Kaapo Kähkönen was in the way of the goal, but for the second straight game against San Jose, everything was right.
– Mikko left nothing to chance and wanted to push the boundaries.
Lehkonen believes that the breakthrough achieved will relax Rantanen’s game even more.
– A bit like in individual sports, when you talk about going over eight meters in the long jump or going over two meters in the high jump, it’s really relaxing when you can break that limit one day. I dare say that the limit brings pressure on a personal level and then, when it can finally be broken, it releases energy for everything else.
Lehkonen believes that Rantanen will take his record clearly even higher. Rantanen, who is third in the NHL goal statistics, has led his team towards the playoffs. Colorado has five regular season games left.
– We have received a great ice hockey ambassador from Finland to North America.
“It’s just a number”
Rantanen himself took a calm approach to his milestone.
– It’s just a number, but I’m happy that I achieved it and helped the team with my goals. I play with good teammates and chainmates. They create good scoring opportunities for me. It’s great to share all this with them, Rantanen, who scored the sixth hat trick of his career, expressed the mood after the game.
Selänne congratulated Ranta On Twitter (you will switch to another service) humorously. The Finnish legend attached a photo together with the congratulatory message, where the young Rantanen poses with the hockey legend.
The last time an Avalanche player crossed the 50-goal mark in the NHL regular season was in the 2002-2003 season, when Milan Hejduk broke the ghost line.
It has actually been exactly 20 years to the day since Hejduk broke the milestone.
Rantanen’s hat trick stole the main attention of the match in the North American media’s match reports, while the Finn’s helmet trick was featured in almost every headline. TSN sports channel (you switch to another service) also noted the violation of the Finnish border laundry in its title.
The unassuming Finnish power forward is a very popular player in the ranks of the Avalanche.
– Everyone loves Mikko in the dressing room, Rantanen’s number one radar pair Nathan MacKinnon boasted before the San Jose game.
There was a “buzz” around Rantanen before reaching the milestone, but the Finnish star himself was not enthusiastic about the idea.
– I try not to think about these individual things. I know the media wants to talk about these things, but I try not to talk about them. I always have this boring attitude of trying to help the team win. I’m just trying to play hard, Rantanen answered in the locker room interview that spread in the media.