Habs’ Lehkonen unfazed by NHL playoff intensity
Rookie says he appreciated the speed of the game, passion of Montreal fans
One of these days I’m going to ask Artturi Lehkonen to show me his birth certificate.
It’s almost impossible to believe the Canadiens rookie is only 21 by the way he handles himself both on and off the ice.
On Wednesday night, Lehkonen played in his first NHL playoff game with the crowd at the Bell Centre roaring so loud at the beginning the walls were almost shaking.
But the Finnish kid took it all in stride, the same way he has with everything else this season.
“I have experienced it before,” Lehkonen said about the playoff atmosphere after practice Thursday, following the Canadiens’ 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final series.
Game 2 is Friday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690), and judging by Thursday’s practice, Canadiens head coach Claude Julien won’t be making any lineup changes.
While Game 1 was Lehkonen’s first NHL playoff game, he led the Swedish Hockey League in postseason scoring last year, posting 11-8-19 totals in 16 games while leading Frolunda HC to the championship.
Lehkonen noted that hockey fans in Sweden are different than in the NHL.
“They’re singing throughout the whole game,” he said.
“It’s more like a soccer crowd. It’s a different kind of fan culture in Europe than it is here.”
While Lehkonen is only 21, this is his sixth season of pro hockey after starting out as a 16-year-old with TPS Turku in his native Finland.
Playing against men at that tender age will make you grow up quickly both on and off the ice.
It helps when your father both played and coached in the Finnish league, like Ismo Lehkonen did.
Artturi wears No. 62 in honour of the year his father was born.
Lekhonen said his father stayed up back home to watch Wednesday’s game, which started at 2 a.m. in Finland.
After a practice earlier this season, Lehkonen talked about the role his father played in him becoming a 200-foot player, something all coaches love — especially from a young forward.
During his first season with Frolunda HC, Lehkonen posted 8-8-16 totals in 47 regular-season games, before improving to 16-17-33 last season in 49 games, followed by his impressive playoff performance and then earning a spot with the Canadiens at NHL training camp.
Lehkonen definitely has a bright future ahead of him after posting 18-10-28 totals in 73 regular-season games this season.
The only giveaways for his young age is the bit of acne he’s fighting on his face and a body generously listed at 6-feet and 182 pounds that still has room to grow.
Some added size and strength will make Lehkonen even more effective since he’s not afraid to go to the dirty areas and already has a wicked shot.
When asked how the Canadiens can get out of their offensive slump and start scoring, Lehkonen said: “That’s a great question. I’m not worried about that. We know that we have firepower on this team. We just got to show it in the next game. We got a new chance tomorrow.”
There are a lot of tomorrows ahead for Lehkonen in the NHL.