Artturi Lehkonen is not making a scene about it, but his numbers are doing plenty of the talking for him.
With another multi-goal night Saturday against the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena, the Colorado Avalanche winger pushed himself into rare company. Through 14 games, Lehkonen has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points, which leaves him tied for second in the NHL in goals with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl. He’s also sitting ahead of Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid in the goal column.
That kind of production would turn heads for almost anyone. From Lehkonen, it comes with his usual low-key shrug.
“Not too much, to be honest. I mean, there’s still a lot of season left’” he stated after the game.
“You don't really change your style of play or the way you approach the game just because you've had a good start offensively. I'm just playing the same style of hockey I've always played."
That’s classic Lehkonen: no chest-thumping, no big declarations, just the same steady message. He’d rather talk about the team than the totals, and he’s not interested in treating a hot start like a personality change.
The pace, though, is impossible to ignore. If he somehow kept scoring and producing at this rate over an 84-game season, he’d finish with 72 goals, 90 assists and 162 points. That’s the kind of math that belongs in a video game, not a normal NHL season.
Of course, nobody is pretending that pace is easy to hold. But Avalanche coach Jared Bednar isn’t brushing it off, either.
“I don't know, a long time, but I think it could go a long time,” Bednar said. “He just keeps doing the right things, going to the right areas of the ice, almost had another one tonight. He's playing the right way and playing hard, and you see, he gets rewarded for going to the net, stopping at the net.”
That’s the key to all of this. Lehkonen isn’t reinventing himself.
He’s still winning battles, getting into the hard areas, and making life miserable around the crease. The goals are coming because he’s doing the work that usually leads to goals.
For Colorado, that matters just as much as the scoring burst itself. Lehkonen has long been the kind of player a team can lean on in almost any situation. He can help on the power play, handle his defensive responsibilities, and bring the kind of playoff-ready edge that coaches trust.
Now he’s adding a scoring run that makes his contract year look even more interesting.
Lehkonen isn’t going to campaign for a new deal in public. He doesn’t have to. The production is making the case for him, and it’s getting louder by the game.
In Other News...
Blackwood Is Giving The Avalanche A Reason To Believe Again
MacKenzie Blackwood has given the Avalanche something they have been searching for amid an uneven start to the season: a dependable last line of defense. His save on Matt Coronato late in the first period helped preserve a 1-0 lead and underscored why Colorado has leaned on him so heavily when the rest of the team has been less consistent.
Blackwoods presence has changed the tone around the crease, and it has even sparked outside chatter about whether he belongs in the Vezina Trophy conversation. For a club trying to steady itself, that kind of impact matters beyond one highlight stop, because it gives Colorado a chance to stay in games while the rest of the roster sorts itself out. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Finally Got The Kind Of Win They Desperately Needed
After a rough stretch, the Avalanche got exactly the kind of response they needed at Ball Arena, putting together a complete 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames. Cale Makar drove the offense with four assists, Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, and Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas also found the net in a game that had the look of a team trying to reassert itself.
Mackenzie Blackwood did his part, too, turning aside 25 shots to help steady things behind a more assertive effort from Colorado. For a group that had been searching for a cleaner, more convincing result, this was the sort of night that can matter well beyond the standings, even if the bigger question is whether it can become the start of something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Peter Forsberg Left Avalanche Fans With One Massive What If
Peter Forsbergs Avalanche career remains one of the great blends of brilliance and frustration in franchise history. In 708 NHL games, he helped Colorado win two Stanley Cups and collected the Hart, Art Ross and Calder Trophies, all while bringing the kind of scoring touch and physical edge that made him a nightmare to defend when he was healthy.
What makes his legacy linger, though, is how often injuries interrupted the run. Spleen surgery once cost him an entire season, and even after he led playoff scoring in 2002 and added more major hardware in 2002-03, the stops and starts kept piling up until his playing time dwindled and his career wound down. For Avalanche fans, Forsberg is still a reminder of what might have been if one of the sports most gifted players had ever gotten a clean stretch. [Read more 🡒]