Mikko Rantanen suspects something has happened to his racket on the plane.
19.5. 19:58
Tampere
Five games, zero goals.
The biggest star of the World Cup, Mikko Rantanen tries and tries, but he doesn’t want to take any nets.
Against Hungary, Rantanen really wanted to succeed in the end, it can be seen from everything. Rantanen scored five times and missed at least twice.
Sometimes Rantanen’s shots were left in the barrel, which is surprising. Rantanen has scored no fewer than 55 goals in the NHL this season, but in the Lions’ home sanctuary, the superstar’s onstage pucks have miraculously bounced in places he normally ends up with a guaranteed grip.
– I use the same sticks as in the NHL, but apparently something happened to them on the plane, said Rantanen, glancing at his stick suspiciously.
Rantanen didn’t put in a bad performance on Friday night, even though the goals were missed. He assisted three of the Lions’ seven goals. The servings to fellow players were first class.
Rantanen says – The other guys in the chain seem to have got the puck in their backpack, so I guess from now on I’ll try to find them with mine.
Rantanen was exceptionally hungry on the power play late in the third period. He greedily looked for an opportunity to launch and tried no less than four times.
No printing.
– It might be trying too hard. In the first set, when I tried to dribble the puck from the sideline, I lost my footing, says Rantanen.
– You can shoot a little more comfortably.
Mikko Rattanen is still in search of his opening goal. Photo: Kale Koponen / HS
Rantanen swears that, in spite of everything, the pain in the lion’s sweater hasn’t come yet.
– Of course I want to help the team with goals, that’s clear. But as long as we win there’s no pain and I can do something else, like defend and give goal assists to my teammates, Rantanen reflects.
Rantanen has assisted a total of seven goals in this tournament so far. He leads the Lions’ internal points market ahead of Sakari Maan (3+3=6).
Rantanen is not the only one whose powder has been wetted. The Legionnaires as a whole have suffered from inefficiency in this World Cup tournament.
Against Hungary, key players Kasperi Kapanen and Kapo Kako were able to score the opening goals.
– It is good that we had successes on a broad front. It will surely help us in future.
Rantanen still believes there is still room for improvement in scoring
We had so many chances in the first two sets, if you can say that.
