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The Loop
The Finnish call of the Stars' Game-7-winning goal is pure electricity
In order to take down the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7, the Dallas Stars were going to need their stars to show up, no pun intended. It would have to come from seventh-year captain Jamie Benn, or six-time All Star Tyler Seguin. Without some heroics from those two, they had no chance.
Incredibly, the Stars managed to pull off a stunning 5-4 overtime victory despite Benn and Seguin combining for one point. Two goals came from the teams third-best player, Alexander Radulov, and the other three came from the unlikeliest of heroes: Finnish rookie Joel Kiviranta.
Kiviranta, 24, had scored just one goal in his entire 11-game NHL career prior to Friday night. He wasnn't even supposed to play, but was inserted into the lineup when veteran Andrew Cogliano was demmed unfit to play. The rest, as they say, is history. Kiviranta tied the game 2-2 early in the second period, then tied the game 4-4 with under four minutes to play in the game. Finally, he completed the hat trick 7 minutes and 24 seconds into the extra period, and it yielded one of the most electric goal calls in hockey history from a Finnish announcer. Have a listen and crank up the volume, but not too loud or your hearing might get destroyed:
KIVIRAAAAANNNTTTAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unbelievable. Home country calls remained undefeated. If you don't know what we're talking about, go have a listen to the call of Viktor Hovland's Puerto Rico Open-winning putt from a pair of Norwegian announcers earlier this year. These calls never get old.