There are statement games, and then there are “Call out your teammate’s dad in the media” games. Colorado Avalanche superstar right winger Mikko Rantanen had the latter on Monday night.
The Avs gutted out a 6-5 win over the Calgary Flames, with Rantanen contributing a goal and two assists. In doing so, he snapped a mini slump. Rantanen had two points in his previous five games and was mired in a nine-game goal-scoring drought. Speaking to the media after the game, Rantanen had some pointed comments for Ismo Lehkonen, a former Finnish pro hockey player turned broadcaster who is the father of Avalanche left winger Artturi Lehkonen.
“I got a lot of extra energy – one of our Finnish NHL players’ dad was talking s--- about me in the media, that I didn’t train last summer like I used to do and, and he was just making things up,” Rantanen said. “So I think that was for him, you know? If you talk s---, it’s going to come back at you.”
Ismo Lehkonen had recently spoken about Rantanen’s play during an interview with YLE, the company with whom Lehkonen works as a broadcast analyst. According to a translation run in a story by The Athletic’s Peter Baugh, Lehkonen claimed Rantanen “Didn’t have a very good summer and that “There was a lot happening, many events of all kinds. He had to visit Helsinki and everything like that. … Perhaps he consciously took the summer a little more calmly after the hard years. And maybe he didn’t practice as much as in previous summers.”
In the same story, Baugh indicated that Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen are on perfectly good terms, with Rantanen insisting he and Lehkonen are good friends.
Rantanen, 27, is in the midst of putting together another statistically dominant season even with the recent slump factored in. He has 13 goals and 34 points through 28 games, sitting tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ William Nylander for 11th in league scoring.
The Avalanche had lost five of six games before Monday’s victory, which launched them back into first place in the Central Division at 17-9-2. They are currently missing many of their most important contributors, including Lehkonen (neck), captain Gabriel Landeskog (knee) and defenseman Samuel Girard (player assistance program), among others.
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