Lehkonen unfazed by NHL playoff intensity
Rookie appreciated the speed of the game and the passion of the Bell Centre crowd
One of these days I’m going to have 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 the lines and defence pairings at 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.
“Every league that I’ve played playoffs in, the first round is always the toughest one,” the rookie added.
“Everybody’s fresh and everybody’s like really, really getting into it and really emotional about the playoffs starting and really excited.”
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.
Lehkonen 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.
“My dad has always been insisting that I also do the job defensively, but when I went to Sweden I kind of figured it out there,” Lehkonen said.
“My first year in Sweden (2014-15) I didn’t really succeed in taking a spot in the top two lines, so I had to find another way to get the time on the ice and really help the team out in a different way.”
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. When asked what’s the most important lesson he learned from his father, Lehkonen said: “He has this saying in Finnish that goes: the one who hustles in the beginning gets tired at the end.”
In other words, learn to pace yourself — something Lehkonen has done this season, posting 18-10-28 totals in 73 regular-season games.
Lehkonen’s two favourite players as a kid growing up in Finland were fellow Finn Kimmo Timonen and Jeff Carter, who both played for the Philadelphia Flyers, the team Lehkonen started cheering for.
“I don’t know why, but back when Timonen got traded to Philly (from Nashville before the 2007-08 season) I started really following Philly and they were kind of my favourite team growing up,” Lehkonen recalled.
“I don’t know, maybe it was the orange jerseys. They were really bright and I became really fond of them.”
Lehkonen definitely has a bright future ahead of him.
The only giveaways for his young age is the bit of acne he’s fighting on his face and a body generously listed at six-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.
After his first NHL playoff game, the rookie said: “It was fast. That’s the way it should be also. ... We just got to find a way to get more chances. I had a couple of good chances there, but I couldn’t capitalize.”
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.
Every league that I’ve played playoffs in, the first round is always the toughest one.