One Montreal Canadiens prospect got to hoist a trophy this season!
Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring in today’s Game Five of the SHL Final with a snipe at 1:46, breaking free off the blue line to put the puck high up in the net. With the goal, he tied Daniel Alfredsson’s record from Frölunda’s last successful playoff run 2005.
Thirteen minutes later, Lehkonen broke Alfredsson’s record with a backhand goal that he once again fired high, and drew him within one goal of Alfredson’s record of 12 set in that same 2005 post-season.
#Recordbreaker #Superfinn Lehkonen GOAL!#Habs #HabsEOTP pic.twitter.com/l24t01lAlN
— Patrik B (@Zeb_Habs) April 24, 2016
In fact, Lehkonen has hoisted two trophies during the 2015-16 season, also winning the Champions Hockey League trophy as Frölunda claimed the title of the pan-European tournament earlier in the year.
While Lehkonen’s season was good, he took his game up a couple of levels in the playoffs. In the words of Montreal prospect Lukas Vejdemo, “Lehkonen was Frölunda’s best player in the quarter-final series” versus Vejdemo’s Djurgården.
In the semi-finals against a physical Luleå squad, Lehkonen powered through the aggeessive play of his opposition, continuing to produce in his breakout playoff performance, and getting a few chances on the first power-play line for the first time this season.
The finals once again belonged to Lehkonen, scoring points in every one of the five games.
He promised he had a few goals left in him, and with the help of his contributions, he is now a champion of the SHL!
With the stellar performances this season, he may be in the conversation for Finland’s World Championship team, as well. That tournament gets underway in Russia in a few weeks time.
Frolunda is your new Swedish Champions after defeating Skelleftea 5-3 in the 5th game. (4-1) pic.twitter.com/W2z4c10rO0
— Robert Söderlind (@HockeyWebCast) April 24, 2016
