Avalanche’s Mikko Rantanen calls out father of teammate 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 11^th 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.