Anders Lindbeks, a competitor of the Latvian goalkeeper Jānis Kalniņš, will not be able to help the Jokerit club of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) in Helsinki in the near future, as he has been seriously injured and will not play for about six weeks.
The 32-year-old Lindbeck was injured in a match against CSKA in Moscow at the end of last week, to which “Jokerit” conceded in extra time with 4: 5. The experienced Swedish goalkeeper in the middle of the third was unable to continue the game and was replaced. Kalniņš took his place at the Helsinki Club goal, who repelled all the throws made by the opposing hockey players in the regular time and scored the only goal in the second minute of overtime.
The Latvian goalkeeper also went on the field in the match against HC “Sochi” two days later, against which the Helsinki team helped to win a devastating victory with 5: 0. Kalnins fought off all the throws of 19 opposing hockey players against Sochi and took the third dry game of the season. Meanwhile, Lindbeck was not entered for this match due to an injury two days earlier.
Jokerit has announced on its website that an experienced Swedish goalkeeper has suffered a serious injury and that he will not be on the field for about six weeks due to the injury. This means that the 32-year-old Swede is unlikely to play until mid-February and will only be able to return to the pitch at the very end of the KHL regular season.
Lindbeck joined the Helsinki team only in the previous off-season and is currently spending his first season in the club of the Finnish capital. This season, going to the field in 21 matches, the experienced Swedish goalkeeper has dealt with 91.7% of the opponents’ shots and has scored 2.49 discs in his fortress on average.
Meanwhile, Kalnins has been representing “Jokerit” for the third year in a row. The Latvian goalkeeper has spent three games less than Lindbeck so far this season, going on the field in 18 matches, but has shown a much better performance than his competitor and is currently spending one of his best seasons at KHL. In the last 18 games, Kalniņš has repelled 92.8% of his opponents’ throws and scored only 2.03 goals on average.
With 48 points won in 38 matches, Jokerit currently ranks sixth in the Western Conference. The next game will be played by the Helsinki team tonight, when at 18:30 the Moscow “Spartak” led by Oleg Znarok and Harry Vītoliņš will be hosted on their field.
