Victor Hedman continues to wear his Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team took a lead-heavy scalp against the Florida Panthers last night.
And the Swedish back star is praised to the skies for his efforts.
In advance, the match series between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, in the second round of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, was uncertain. The series has been named The Battle for Florida, and the Florida Panthers in particular have been completely superior this season, and among other things broke records in the number of goals.
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But Tampa Bay Lightning has a playoff routine, and comes from several seasons of amazing playoff performance, and the routine was shown not least in the first round, when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. Tampa also went on to knock in the first game against Florida, but the second game looked to go towards overtime, as the score was 1-1 with only five seconds left of the game.
Earlier in the game, Victor Hedman had been noted for a pass to Tampa’s 1-0 goal, but it was not offensively that Hedman excelled last night. Instead, he was noted for an ice age well over 20 minutes, and he is hugely praised for his defensive work. Among other things, he did an incredible backcheck on superstar Jonathan Huberdeau, who may well have prevented a goal.
“He is a God”
Victor Hedman is nominated for the Norris Trophy, the award for the NHL’s best fullback, but is not the favorite to win. There are defenders – including Colorado’s Cale Makar – who score more points, but after the effort tonight, the fans are absolutely certain that there is no defender in the NHL who is better defensively.
“Victor Hedman has been a monster in the playoffs so far,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Victor Hedman has the ability to change matches that no one else has in the league. He does what he wants, ”writes another.
“Victor Hedman is a fucking God,” writes a third.
The score was 1-1 with five seconds left, but then the puck ended up with Nikita Kutjerov, just behind the offensive goal. He pulled out a completely impossible pass, behind his back, in front of goal – and Tampa could decide. They now lead the series 2-0, and storm towards another conference final.
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