Victor Hedman scored his first goal of the 2017-18 Stanley Cup Playoffs to extend his point streak (1-10–11) to eight games in a 4-2 Game 3 win over the Washington Capitals to cut their opponent’s Eastern Conference Final series lead in half.
Victor Hedman of the @TBLightning is the first defenseman to record a point streak of 8+ games in a postseason since Larry Murphy in the 1995 #StanleyCup Playoffs (9 GP w/ PIT). #NHLStats #TBLvsWSH pic.twitter.com/UbHmrr5Dxh
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 16, 2018
Hedman (1-2–3) tallied a pair of beautiful primary assists on Lightning power-play goals. They came first on Steven Stamkos’ opening goal of the game in the first period, and the second on a no-look pass to Nikita Kucherov, who soon returned the favour with the primary assist on Hedman’s own goal for a 3-0 lead in the middle frame.
''He's a perennial Norris guy,'' Lightning captain Stamkos said of Hedman, who is indeed a Norris Trophy finalist, postgame. ''We can't describe how good he is out there. We rely on him a ton, he's a horse and most nights if he's going well, we're going well as a team. Another big effort for him tonight, and you could see we all followed suit.''
In a crucial win after Tampa Bay dropped the first two games of the series at home, the 2018 NHL All-Star came through for the Lightning again with his second multi-point night this postseason, while leading his team with 25:08 of ice time to earn the game's second star.
Hedman’s 10 assists are second-best among blueliners this postseason, while he is tied for fourth among defencemen with 11 points and his six power-play points rank third at the position.