Montreal Canadiens: Jesperi Kotkaniemi stands out in U20 FIN-CZE match

Montreal Canadiens 2018 first-round pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi was in action for Team Finland and the U20s taking on Team Czech Republic.

Hockey is still going on in the summer and it featured one of the more exciting prospects in the Montreal Canadiens organization. Ahead of the World Junior Summer Showcase, Jesperi Kotkaniemi suiting up for U20s.

Team Finland had the third-overall pick serving as their number one centre between Linus Nyman and Kaapo Kakko as the only Habs prospect to play. In different circumstances, 2017 second-round pick Joni Ikonen would’ve been on the ice but has been sidelined with a lower-body injury. Additionally, 2018 second-round pick Jesse Ylonen was not in the starting lineup for the game.

The first period saw Finland down 2-1 but Kotkaniemi quickly made his presence known on the ice. Finland chose to play him against the Czech’s top line featuring Martin Necas and Martin Kaut, but that didn’t hold him back at all. In fact, his line generated a lot of offensive pressure against them.

He also had a very impressive individual effort in the opening portion of the game. Kotkaniemi received the puck in the neutral zone and skated hard to the net splitting the two defenders in the process.

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It’s Kotkaniemi’s hockey IQ and awareness that contributed to this. The 18-year-old had an incredible shift in the second period which started with him entering the zone with the puck, crossing over to the other side and sending a backhand pass to line mate Kakko for a scoring chance that went wide. Seconds afterwards, Kotkaniemi covered for the collapsing defenceman on the left eventually receiving the puck and moving it over to the right for another.

Something else that stood out in Kotkaniemi’s performance was his love for the cross-crease pass. He displayed a favourable ability to find passing lanes and make use of them. Some of them were disrupted, but others found their target leading to more scoring chances. Patrik Bexel of Habs Eyes the Prize captured one of those moments.

His stand out performance continued in the third period for Finland. Lauri Pajuniemi was the benefactor of a few short passes on the power play while Kotkaniemi had a good effort to find off two other players behind the net and find Kakko in the slot.

A defensive highlight from the third was a nice play on a 2-on-1 rush against. Acknowledging that someone was already covering the shooter, Kotkaniemi skated hard from the neutral zone to take away a possible pass to the joining forward. The player holding the puck had no choice but to try to shoot himself but the angle made a goal there highly unlikely.

After all the scoring chances, Kotkaniemi finally got an assist off Pajuniemi’s tally on the 4-3 PP. He drew the penalty call and Finland made no mistake converting on it.

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This was a game that needed to be watched to appreciate how strong of a performance he had. It may not appear as such when the team scores 9 goals and you only have an assist to show for it, but Kotkaniemi’s vision and ability to create was at the forefront of his game.