Deen’s Daily: Assessing Lehkonen’s Season; Leafs Force Game 7 — Can Winnipeg Do The Same?

The Maple Leafs forced Game 7. Can the Winnipeg Jets do the same tonight? Also, Artturi Lehkonen’s 2024-25 season took a weird turn offensively.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — May 17.

Colorado Hockey Now

When Artturi Lehkonen made his season debut in November, the Avs were so desperately starved for depth scoring that he was playing 23-25 minutes seemingly every night. And for good reason — he was delivering. He picked right up where he left off in last year’s postseason and looked like he didn’t skip a beat. Not bad for a player that missed all of training camp and the preseason.

He was on track for a whopper of a career year, at least in the goals department. But then the trade deadline happened and the well dried up. I broke down Lehkonen’s season in the article below. Give it a read if you haven’t already.

Read More: What To Make of Artturi Lehkonen’s 2024-25 Season

Stanley Cup Playoff Recap

Game 6 — Toronto Maple Leafs at Florida Panthers: The Toronto Maple Leafs actually did it. After getting booed out of their building in an embarrassing 6-1 loss in Game 5, the Leafs clamped down defensively and shut out the Panthers 2-0 to force Game 7. They got in front of pucks, laid off some massive clean hits, and made Joseph Woll’s night as easy as humanly possible. Also, Auston Matthews stepped up with a big goal. That series finale on Sunday is going to be must-watch.

Tonight’s Schedule

• Game 6: Winnipeg Jets at Dallas Stars (6 pm MT on ABC & ESPN+)

Around The NHL

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Pens’ coaching search continues. Two more candidates were interviewed as Kyle Dubas starts to narrow down his long list of candidates.

Montreal Hockey Now: What the Habs need this offseason as we get closer to the draft and free agency.

Philly Hockey Now: Rick Tocchet was introduced as the 25th coach in franchise history on Friday. And he’s well aware of the difficult job at hand.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Hopefully, it’s not anything severe, but the Devils captain suffered an injury at the World Championships. You know… the tournament that Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas are participating in.

NYI Hockey Now: Could you imagine this scenario: The Leafs lost, and Brendan Shanahan takes a job with the Isles. Why it would be a good fit.

Detroit Hockey Now: Ken Holland was introduced as L.A. Kings general manager, sitting side-by-side with a legend he brought to the Red Wings more than 25 years ago. Time is seriously just a big giant circle.

Vegas Hockey Now: Jack Eichel was stunned by the loss to Edmonton and expressed his feelings during Vegas’ exit interviews.

Speaking of which, I really wish the Avs did exit interviews. We’ve asked for them for years, but the organization has never been interested in it for some reason. I remember when the Seattle Kraken beat the Avs in Game 7. The media went into the dressing room knowing this was the only chance we had to speak to players, especially those on expiring deals, before July 1.

I chatted with J.T. Compher 1-on-1 about the loss and the series as a whole. And then I asked him about his contract status and if he had given any thought to the idea that this could be his last game with the Avs. He didn’t like the question, he didn’t answer it, and he walked off. I honestly don’t blame him. I shouldn’t have to ask him that five minutes after losing a Game 7. That would’ve been better for exit interviews after the sting of the loss wears off.

Chicago Hockey Now: The Blackhawks interviewed Jeff Blashill during their coaching search. What do they see in him?