Eklund playing 2nd line center, with Lekkerimaki on his wing.
Overall Eklund had a great period, two different backchecking steals that led to odd-man rushes the other way. Second one was with Lekkerimaki, who elected to just shoot instead of trying to make a play across to Eklund on the 2 on 1. I'm not convinced Eklund sticks at center in his career, but he's such a smart player I can see why they're putting him there. He's just a really engaged player who is always scouting for opportunities. Had one shot attempt I could see that ramped off defender's stick. Couple things I didn't like were he got hemmed into the boards pretty easily after trying to weave his way out of danger in the corner for too long. He was pretty alone in the corner though so I think he was just trying to find an out. He also has really good lateral and backwards mobility and his agility is fantastic, but I wish he had that effortless forward stride that a lot of NHLers with his size and skillset have that make them a "homerun" threat if they get a head of steam with the puck. I also think it's real dumb that he's on PP2 for this team, but last time I watched him he was on PP1 so who knows. Oh also Eklund had a fantastic zone entry on his PP2 time, weaved around a defenseman, passed right over the line to open space and his teammate picked it up. Just beautiful.
Lekkerimaki seems like he belongs at this level, and isn't sticking out in an overmatched way or anything. Just haven't seen a lot that stands out just yet. He has a good shot that can hit the net from range, but isn't super elite or anything. Wished he would have tried to make a play to Eklund on that 2 on 1 but that might just be my bias of wanting Eklund to get a goal and his shot wasn't particularly deceptive that he tried.
