Montreal Canadiens: Artturi Lehkonen Is the Second Round’s Unsung Hero

Jun 7, 2021; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens Artturi Lehkonen Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Lehkonen steps into prominent role

Artturi Lehkonen was chosen to take that spot, and the change was pretty seamless.

It cannot be overstated how hard that would be to do. Lehkonen had not played since Game 2 in Toronto. He was coming in cold, and was being asked to play on the first line against Winnipeg’s best forwards. A little bit of rust should be expected, but Lehkonen showed no sign of it.

Not to mention that this line is a combination that has not played together at all. Danault and Gallagher have been married to Tatar for the past couple years, and Lehkonen has played with a revolving door of bottom 6 players. There is no chemistry to rely on, and still it worked.

Lehkonen and Evans have a similar level of compete and effort on every play. Evans is a bit more defensive minded, while Lehkonen is a bit more interested in the offensive side of things. Lehkonen is the definition of put the puck on net and good things will happen. He loves shooting the puck, and he will do it from anywhere. While he shot is definitely not great, it can be used to handcuff goalies who may not expect shots from where Lehkonen shoots.

Lehkonen was selected in the second round in 2013, 55th overall. He was Montreal’s third second round pick that year, and the last. But he is easily better than Jacob de la Rose and Zach Fucale, and for that matter, Montreal’s 1st round pick Michael McCarron.

Lehkonen’s best season goal-scoring wise, was his first one with 18 goals. He has never quite reached that summit since, but has scored over 10 goals every year before this one. He is the type of player that works so hard he works into the coach’s heart, even though the score sheet doesn’t necessarily show it. Lehkonen often appears to be snake bitten, having these wonderful chances and rarely being able to convert on them.

This post-season, however, Lehkonen’s role isn’t so much putting the puck in the net, so much as not letting guys like Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor put it in Montreal’s. And that was passed with flying colours. Once again, Montreal frustrated the opponents best forwards, the Habs just did this with a new face up front.

Not to mention the goals. With bigger responsibility, Lehkonen has responded with a big impact on the scoresheet, 3 points in 3 games. 2 goals of his own in Games 3 and 4, and one assist on Toffoli’s goal in Game 2. That’s just having your cake and eating it too.

Lehkonen stops the opponents big names and has been able to put the puck in the net, as of late. Next series is going to be tougher than he or the rest of the Canadiens have faced in this postseason, either facing Mikko Rantanen, Nathan Mackinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, or Johnathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone depending on who wins the Colorado – Vegas series.

Time will tell if Lehkonen, and the Canadiens, will be up to the task of either Vegas or Colorado, but all I know is that Montreal was supposed to lose 2 series so far, and look at how that turned out. For now, lets just enjoy our crowns as the Kings of the North!