Finnish success in N.H.L. nets is often traced to Kiprusoff, a 1995 fifth-round draft pick by the Sharks who is the most well-known of the Flopping Finns. Kiprusoff, who retired last year at 37, led the Calgary Flames to the Stanley Cup finals in 2004 and won the Vezina Trophy the next season. He is the winningest Finnish goalie in the N.H.L., with 319 victories in 623 games.

Image Kari Lehtonen of the Dallas Stars. Credit... Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

But Finland’s goal rush started well before the discovery of Kiprusoff. In 1970, six years before Kiprusoff was born, Urpo Ylonen was named the best goaltender at the world championships. Eight years later, at the European junior championships, Jari Paavola won the tournament’s goaltending award but was upstaged by his teammate Jari Kurri, who delivered the decisive goal in an upset of the Soviet Union in the final. Jorma Valtonen’s international career included a start in the 1980 Olympic gold medal game against the United States squad that was coming off its “Miracle on Ice” victory against the Soviet Union.

Until the end of the 1970s, the N.H.L.’s eyes were for North American players only. European players popped up on the league’s radar during international events, only to disappear until the next one. In the 1980s, forwards Kurri and Esa Tikkanen, part of a trend that started with the renegade World Hockey Association, opened the Finnish channel to North America by becoming key contributors on the Edmonton Oilers’ championship teams.

When the current Finnish goaltenders talk about the trailblazers who made it possible for them to dream of an N.H.L. career, they speak of Mattsson, Jarmo Myllys and Kari Takko, who logged a combined 273 games in the league from 1980 to 1992.

“I’m sure it wasn’t easy for those guys,” Lehtonen said, “because the norm then was you have Canadian goalies and that’s it.”

Lots of Groundwork

After an hourlong practice at Chelsea Piers during a trip to New York last month, Lehtonen, 30, was stopped by two men, the only Dallas player to be approached by the gaggle of fans that had gathered there. Tourists from Finland, they asked him if he would pose for a photograph, which he did wearing an embarrassed expression.

At 19, Lehtonen was taken second over all by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2002 draft. It was the highest a European goaltender had been selected, 19 places better than the previous high, established in 1994 by Evgeni Ryabchikov of Russia and equaled in 1997 by Lehtonen’s countryman Mika Noronen.