New York. Sweden earned a new member of the NHL 100 club last night – for the second time in a single day.
Elias Peterson scored 100 and 101 points as Vancouver visited Anaheim.
– I’m very happy about that, says the 24-year-old star from Unji.
It’s been twelve years since a Swede – Daniel Sedin – last reached triple figures in the NHL, but in the last 24 hours it has happened twice.
Yesterday, Erik Karlsson, as the first defender in the best league in the world in more than three decades, managed to break the 100th barrier, and last night he was joined by Elias Peterson in the exclusive club.
Breathing
On the 12:14 power play in Vancouver’s road game against Anaheim, he hit a perfect goal-scoring pass to old radar partner Brock Boeser and thus reached the classic feat.
-Now I can breathe again, he says with a wide smile when he meets the media at the Honda Center.
– I’m very happy about it. It wasn’t something I thought about before the season, but now that it’s done, I feel pretty good.
Really want to get better
His teammates were clearly delighted to see the young Swede fulfill the dream and ‘Betty’, as they call him in Vancouver, appreciated the reaction.
– It means a lot to see everyone so happy for me, he continues.
– I couldn’t do it without them, I don’t play myself, we are a team.
At the same time, Elias hopes to be able to improve the numbers further in the coming years.
– I’d like to believe there are more levels, and I’m always striving to improve.
And last night he managed to contribute another assist, for what became JT Miller’s game-winning goal 3-2 early in the third period, thus leading the Swedish league in scoring before the final round.
