After Bratislava, Prague also got a taste of Lankinen
He enjoyed Slovak cuisine three years ago, now he also enjoyed the Czech hockey menu. After the triumph at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Bratislava, si Kevin Lankinen he will also take victory from the NHL Global Series in Prague, to which he contributed significantly in the second duel.
“When I found out that we were going to Prague, I was so excited. I have great memories of Bratislava, I generally like playing in European cities. I’m very happy that the NHL does these things,” says the Nashville Predators goalkeeper after Saturday’s 3-2 win over San Jose Sharks, which he deserved to a significant extent.
While the 27-year-old caught in the opening game of the Global Series Juuse Saros, in the latter, his compatriot of the same age faced the Predators goal. And he didn’t disappoint either: he conceded only two goals from 33 shots as a 93.9 percent success rate led the fight to victory. He sweated a lot in the Sharks final push in particular.
No, for Nashville (yet) he is not the hero he was for Finland in 2019, when he maintained an average of 1.5 and a success rate of 94.2 percent in eight games on the Bratislava ice, shut out Russia in six and was a big support in the victorious final against Canada.
[Více k tématu: Hertl bez výhry, Sharks padli i podruhé]
He enters the NHL season as number two behind Saros. In the NHL, he has played 69 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, now his first for Nashville. And while in the previous one he had more defeats than wins, in Prague he entered the new engagement victoriously.
Moreover, in front of his relatives and acquaintances from Finland.
“I had ten people here from home who had probably never flown across the sea. For some of them it was the first ever NHL game,” Lankinen said. “It means a lot to me that he came here to see me, I’m sure other guys from Europe feel the same way. It’s great and thanks to the way we fought and managed to make it two wins, that’s all even better,” he rejoiced.
“I will take great memories from here.