Sami Kapanen spent the first eight of his 13 NHL seasons with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes franchise and played his last NHL game in 2008 with the Philadelphia Flyers. He then played for KalPa Kuopio in SM-liiga in Finland, where Kasperi was his teammate in 2013.
All that playing time with dad seems to have paid off for Kasperi, who the Maple Leafs acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the
trade for Phil Kessel on July 1, 2015.
Despite Saturday being just his 19th career NHL game (and second playoff game), the Finnish-born Kapanen already has a reputation for big goals.