from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

It was Lehtinen, in his capacity as the GM of Finland’s national team, who tipped the Stars off to a relatively unknown player by the name of Joel Kiviranta last season. The Stars are obviously good listeners. They heeded Lehtinen’s advice, sent pro scouts Paul McIntosh, Craig Bonner and Les Jackson to some international tournaments to watch him play, then convinced him to sign with Dallas shortly after he won a gold medal for his country at the World Championship in 2019. And that decision paid off in an enormous way when the 24-year-old Kiviranta scored a hat trick, including the game-winner in overtime, in Game 7 of their second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche.

It simply does not get any better than that. Or more inspirational. Before last season, Kiviranta was an undersized, undrafted player in the SM Liiga, which is Finland’s top pro league. But he played for a team called Vassan Sport, which has been in the top league for just five seasons and has never played a playoff game. In fact, his last playoff goal came in 2014 when he was playing junior hockey for Jokerit’s U-18 team. Since his NHL draft year in 2014, a total of 1,283 players have been selected, including 98 from Finland, and Kiviranta’s name was never called. Stars captain Jamie Benn referred to Kiviranta as, “our secret Finnish weapon.”

So it should come as no surprise that few people in North America would know much about a kid from the other side of the world who played just 11 NHL games and spent the bulk of the season in the American League. The only thing is, he’d have a tough time getting arrested in his home country, too.

“Actually, last year when he got picked to the World Championship team, everybody was asking, ‘Who the f--- is this guy?’ ” said Antti Makinen, who does play-by-play for the SM Liiga. “Even all the media said, ‘He’s on the team, but he’s not going to play.’ Well, he played. And they won. I was watching the game today and I was thinking, ‘How the hell is that happening? He ain’t that good.’ And then he goes and scores three goals.”

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Below, watch the three-goal night from Kiviranta. added 9:04am, Watch Kiviranta's post-game interview below too.