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Roster announcement is expected Friday and Lankinen admits excitement about that, saying: ‘Yeah, of course. It’s a big goal of mine this year’
Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender Kevin Lankinen snags the puck in front of Carolina Hurricanes’ winger Logan Stankoven during in Raleigh, N.C. on Nov. 14. Photo by Karl B DeBlaker /AP
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Kevin Lankinen has played his best hockey of the season of late for the Vancouver Canucks and you have to think even more good news about him is coming Friday.
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It would be a surprise if Lankinen isn’t named to the Finnish team for the Milano Cortina Olympic Games when they unveil their roster in the morning.
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Lankinen split netminding duties for the national side with Nashville Predators backstop Juuse Saros at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. Lankinen led the Finns to the title at the 2019 world championships, fashioning a 7-1 record with a 1.50 goals against average and a .942 save percentage.
There have been six Finnish goalies in the NHL this season and Saros is the lone one that’s played more than Lankinen.
“Yeah, of course. It’s a big goal of mine this year,” Lankinen, 30, said with a grin when asked about his excitement level regarding the pending roster declaration.
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Lankinen is coming off making 37 saves in a 3-2 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken last Monday. He had made 39 stops in a 5-4 shootout win over the Boston Bruins in his previous start on Dec. 20.
That’s improved his season numbers to a 3.41 goals against average and an .885 save percentage, to go with a 6-10-3 record. Lankinen’s totals pale in comparison to his stats from last season (2.62 goals against average, .902 save percentage, 25-15-10 record). He hasn’t played as well, but the team has not been nearly as staunch defensively as last season either.
As well, Lankinen needed to take a leave of absence from the Canucks for a few days in November for personal reasons. He wound up missing just two games. He didn’t get into details on Thursday, but did talk about being in a better head space now.
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“Every season is a roller-coaster,” he said. “There are things you can and you cannot control. The only thing you can do is focus on what you can control and contribute the best way possible and trust the results will follow.
“There’s been adversity on the team side and on the personal side, too, dealing with stuff. At the same time, it’s not really about what happens but how you bounce back from what happens. And right now I feel really, really confident in my game.
“Hockey is such a big part of who we are. But we’re also human beings. We’re not robots. You try to do the best you can with the cards you’ve been dealt.”
Lankinen signed a five-year deal with a cap hit of $4.5 million last February. Fellow netminder Thatcher Demko, 30, inked a three-year extension with a cap hit of $8.5 million that kicks in next season. He’s currently in the final year of a five-year contract with a $5 million cap hit.
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That’s got them slated to work in tandem for an extended period.
“We’re good buddies and we chat a lot,” Lankinen said of Demko. “He’s got some really good elements in his game that I can mimic and integrate into my game. It’s working really well.”
Saros, 30, is 15-12-3, with a 2.93 goals against average and a .898 save percentage so far this season. Other Finnish netminders in the NHL include Joonas Korpisalo, 31, who’s 6-8-0, with a 3.60 goals against average and a .882 save percentage for the Boston Bruins, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, 26, who is 7-5-1, with a 2.46 goals against average and a .903 save percentage for the Buffalo Sabres.
Lankinen, Saros and Luukkonen were the Finns three goalies at 4 Nations.
Men’s hockey in Italy opens Feb. 11 and the gold medal game is Feb. 22. The Canucks visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 4 and then don’t play again until Feb. 25, when they are home to the Winnipeg Jets.
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