Avalanche notes from Finland’s loss to Slovakia in the 2026 Olympics

The Colorado Avalanche sent many players to the Olympic games in Italy, and in the first hockey game in the tournament, Finland took on Slovakia. Finland has two current Avalanche players on its roster in Arturri Lehkonen and Joel Kiviranta.

Arturri Lehkonen’s experience is beneficial to Team Sweden

Throughout the game, Lehkonen finished with 16:48 of time on ice, recording an assist while also contributing with four shots. Though he failed to hit the back of the net, he was definitely noticeable on the ice.

Lehkonen spoke about the outcome of the game afterwards, and said what any Avalanche fan would expect a Colorado player to say: You have to learn from this loss and move on.

The Avalanche haven’t had to do a ton of “moving on” after a loss. They even have the mindset of moving on after a win because once the clock hits 0:00, the most important game is the next one. Nothing can be done once time runs out in a game. I suppose that is one thing that Lehkonen (and all of the Avalanche players in the Olympics) can share with their team.

Lehkonen is on Nathan MacKinnon’s line on the Avalanche, and that is important because MacKinnon demands the best out of you, especially when he’s also on the ice. I think that Lehkonen can bring that type of mentality to Team Finland and is proabably somebody who spoke up to the team when they reached the locker room.

He’s not much of a talker when he is the number one star for the Avalanche, but he seemed quite at home on Wednesday.

Lehkonen injury something to watch

With hockey comes getting dinged up. Unfortunately, even the smallest things can be a problem throughout the year. Hopefully, Artturi Lehkonen will be okay after he took a puck to the hand in the game.

Lehkonen returned to the game, but we should be looking for any sort of updates regarding the injury. It would not be the first time a player returns to a game but then ends up missing several games due to an injury previously viewed as minor. Hopefully that is not the case here.

Lehkonen is a big part of the Avalanche, and there’s a reason why he was selected to go to the Olympics. He’s a big player who has a lot of talent.

Joel Kiviranta was a scratch in Game 1 for Finland

Joel Kiviranta has played a relatively big role for the Avalanche for somebody who didn’t see a lot of ice time when he was a member of the Dallas Stars. It probably felt the same way for him on Wednesday.

The game ended without Kiviranta even seeing the ice. That is not something that I’m a fan of, personally. They should allow every single player in the Olympics to be available, not a healthy scratch. While being in Italy for the Olympics is a cool experience for every player, it has to suck not getting a single second on the ice.

With the Olympics only every four years, who knows if Kiviranta will ever get another opportunity? I think having scratches for these games is just ridiculous.